Large snake needle
| Large snake needle | ||||||||||||
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Great snake needle ( Entelurus aequoreus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Entelurus | ||||||||||||
| Duméril , 1870 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Entelurus aequoreus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The snake pipefish ( Entelurus aequoreus ) is the only known species of the genus Entelurus within the pipefish (Syngnathidae).
features
The large snake needle has a very elongated, thin body and is up to 60 centimeters long. The snout with the upper mouth is drawn out tubular. The tail is a winding tail formed which allows the fish to cling to seaweed. The back and the flanks are olive green to gray in color. The dorsal fin, which attaches far back to the body, has 37 to 47 fin rays, the only very short anal fin and the paired fins are completely reduced. The caudal fin is very small and has only 4 to 9 fin rays.
distribution
The great snake needle lives on the coasts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from northern Scandinavia and Iceland to Portugal and the North and western Baltic Seas . The species is also known from the coast of the Azores .
Way of life
The fish live mainly on shallow coasts in seagrass and seaweed meadows at depths of 5 to 100 meters, where they usually stay on the bottom between the seaweed and are well camouflaged by their shape. They feed mainly on small crustaceans and fish spawn, which they suck up with their tubular mouth.
The Rogner spawn from June to July, attaching around 400 to 1000 eggs to the male's abdomen with the help of their elongated genital papilla. The males fertilize the eggs and carry them until the young fish hatch. In contrast to the adult fish, the juvenile fish have pectoral fins, which regress during development. They live pelagic and hunt small crustaceans in the zooplankton .
Systematics
The great snake needle is the only recognized species of the genus Entelurus within the pipefish (Syngnathidae).
supporting documents
Individual evidence
literature
- Andreas Vilcinskas : Fish. Central European freshwater species and marine fish from the North and Baltic Seas. BLV, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-405-15848-6 , page 212.
Web links
- Large snake needle on Fishbase.org (English)