Gold eye

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold eye
Systematics
Subclass : Real bony fish (Teleostei)
Overcohort : Osteoglossomorpha (Osteoglossomorpha)
Order : Hiodontiformes
Family : Hiodontidae
Genre : Moon eyes ( Hiodon )
Type : Gold eye
Scientific name
Hiodon alosoides
( Rafinesque , 1819)

The golden eye ( Hiodon alosoides (because of the external similarity to Alosa )) is a freshwater fish from the group of osteoglossomorpha that occurs in central and eastern North America . Its distribution area extends from the mouth of the Mackenzie River on the Beaufort Sea over western Alberta , the Great Lakes , the Ohio to the Mississippi river basin . The western limit of the range is in northeastern British Columbia , eastern Montana , Wyoming and Oklahoma , the southern in Louisiana , the northeast in northwestern Québec .

features

The golden eye becomes a maximum of 52 cm long but usually remains just over 30 cm in length. The maximum published weight is 1.72 kg. The fish resemble herrings and, like them, have a silvery basic color. Your iris is golden. The dorsal fin begins above or behind the longer anal fin, the gap in the mouth ends in front of the center of the eye. From its sister species , the moon eye ( Hiodon tergisus ), the golden eye differs in the larger number of vertebrae (58–63 versus 55–58) and the smaller number of dorsal fin rays (9–11 versus 11–13) and the smaller number of these fin rays supporting fin bearer (10–12 vs. 13–15). In contrast, the number of anal fin rays and the associated fin carriers is greater (31–33 vs. 26–30 and 31–36 vs. 27–31). The body of the golden eye is lower compared to the moon eye, the base of the dorsal fin is shorter and that of the anal fin is longer. The fleshy keel, which extends from the pelvic fins to the anal fin in the lunar eye, extends to the ventral fins in the gold eye.

Way of life

The golden eye is primarily nocturnal and lives in the lowlands, especially in the deep areas of rivers and lakes. It can live to be 14 to 17 years old and feed on crustaceans, mollusks, frogs and small fish, as well as insects that have fallen on the surface of the water. For spawning, it pulls up the rivers in spring.

literature

  • Roger Tory Peterson, Lawrence M. Page, Mariner Books: A Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes: North America North of Mexico. Mariner Books, 1998, ISBN 0-3959-1091-9

Web links