Thornback eels

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Thornback eels
Notacanthus chemnitzii

Notacanthus chemnitzii

Systematics
Class : Ray fins (Actinopterygii)
Subclass : Neuflosser (Neopterygii)
Subclass : Real bony fish (Teleostei)
Cohort : Elopomorpha
Order : Thorn-back eels (Notacanthiformes)
Family : Thornback eels
Scientific name
Notacanthidae
Rafinesque , 1810

The thorn-back eels (Notacanthidae) ( Gr .:, "Noton" = back, "akantha" = thorn) inhabit the deep sea of all oceans at a depth of 125 to 3500 meters. They pick up bristle worms and small crustaceans from the ground with their lower mouths .

features

Thornback eels have long, laterally flattened bodies. They become 20 to 60 centimeters tall. In almost all species except for Lipogenys gillii , the dorsal fin is reduced to individually standing fin spines. Some species have three spine-like fin rays in each ventral fin. The scales are relatively small with more than 50 longitudinal rows on each side of the body. The sideline is not sunk and clearly visible. The ploughshare leg is missing, the "skull base" (Basioccipitale) has a " Condylus basioccipitalis". The swim bladder has a pneumatic duct .

Very large Leptocephalus larvae were caught, which are presumably the larval stage of the thornback eels. Thorn-back eels are an old fish family, the fossil pronotacanthus known from England and Lebanon lived from the Upper Cretaceous to the Oligocene .

Systematics

There are three genera with a total of eleven species :

Lipogenys gillii
Notacanthus sexspinis
Polyacanthonotus rissoanus

literature

Web links

Commons : Thornback Eels (Notacanthidae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files