Tripod fish
| Tripod fish | ||||||||||||
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Tripod fish ( Bathypterois grallator ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bathypterois grallator | ||||||||||||
| ( Goode & Bean , 1886) |
The tripod fish ( Bathypterois grallator ) is a deep-sea fish of the genus Bathypterois from the family of the net-eye fish (Ipnopidae). The species lives in the Atlantic , in the western Indian Ocean and in the Pacific on the bottom of the deep sea at a depth of 880 to 4720 m.
features
Bathypterois grallator is the largest species of the genus with an average length of about 30 and a maximum of about 37 centimeters. The body is moderately elongated and slender. The basic color is black, with the pores of the lateral line organ and the pockets of the scales being white and the dorsal fin being unpigmented. The first of the eight rays of the pelvic fins is strong and very elongated and reaches 104 to 144% of the standard length of the animal. The second ray is thin and attached to the first. The lowest ray of the caudal fin is also greatly elongated and reaches 97 to 134% of the standard length. The side-seated eyes are small. The teeth are curved back, sawed at the tip and larger in the upper jaw than in the lower jaw.
The pectoral fins have seven to ten externally visible, moderately elongated rays that become shorter from top to bottom. Above these sit two, including one or two very short, rudimentary rays. The dorsal fin starts behind the pectoral fins and just before the anal fin . Both unpaired fins have 12 or 13 rays. An adipose fin is missing. The number of gill spines on the first arch is 8 to 9 on the upper branch and 19 to 23 on the lower branch, another spike sits at the angle in between.
Way of life
Tripod fish live individually near the bottom. They use the three elongated rays of the ventral and caudal fins to stand on the ocean floor with their heads held up against the current. These rays appear flexible when swimming, but can be stiffened for standing. The animals feed mainly on copepods and other small crustaceans .
They are hermaphroditic and at least one form of larva appears to be in open water.
literature
- John D. McEachran, Janice D. Fechhelm: Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes . University of Texas Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-292-75206-1 , pp. 561 .
- Bathypterois grallator at the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tripod fish on Fishbase.org (English)
