Drift fish

Drift fish
	Ariomma regulus
Systematics
	Acanthomorphata
	Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
	Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order :	Scombriformes
Family :	Ariommatidae
Genre :	Drift fish
Scientific name of the family
	Ariommatidae
	Haedrich , 1967
Scientific name of the genus
	Ariomma
	Jordan & Snyder , 1904

The drift fish (Ariommatidae) are a family of the Scombriformes and thus belong to the perch relatives . There is only one genus , Ariomma , with 9 species. They live in middle sea depths (meso pelagial ) of tropical and subtropical sea parts, but are largely absent in the Pacific.

features

Drift fish are 18 to 80 centimeters long, depending on the species. Their bodies are silvery, often shimmering blue or purple, darkly spotted and covered by large, slightly sloping cycloid scales. They can be identified by two dorsal fins, the first with 10 to 12 weak spines, the second with 14 to 18 soft rays. The first dorsal fin disappears into a pit when it is put on. The anal fin has three short spines and 13 to 16 soft rays. The pectoral fins have the high number of 20 to 24 rays, pelvic fins are present. Further features are two soft keels on both sides at the base of the tail and 30–32 vertebrae in the spine. The big eyes (ἀρι- good, beautiful, big; ὄμμα [ n ] eye) are surrounded by fat eyelids .

species

Ariomma bondi

Ariomma melanum

Ariomma bondi Fowler, 1930 .
Ariomma brevimanum (Klunzinger, 1884) .
Ariomma indicum (Day, 1871) .
Ariomma luridum Jordan & Snyder, 1904 .
Ariomma melanum (Ginsburg, 1954) .
Ariomma parini Piotrovsky, 1987 .
Ariomma regulus (Poey, 1868) .

literature

Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ et al. 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
Kurt Fiedler: Fish (= textbook of special zoology. Vol. 2: Vertebrates. Part. 2). Gustav Fischer, Jena 1991, ISBN 3-334-00338-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ariommatidae - collection of images, videos and audio files

Drift fish on Fishbase.org (English)