Garfish

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Garfish
Crocodile garfish (Tylosurus crocodilus)

Crocodile garfish ( Tylosurus crocodilus )

Systematics
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Ovalentaria
Superordinate : Earfish relatives (Atherinomorphae)
Order : Garfish (Beloniformes)
Subordination : Belonoidei
Family : Garfish
Scientific name
Belonidae
Bonaparte , 1832

The family of Hornhechte (Belonidae of βέλος = "bullet, arrow") includes 40 species in 12 genera .

Appearance

Garfish are very slender surface fish. They have a beak-like, elongated mouth with numerous, needle-like teeth. In adult animals, the upper and lower jaws are the same length. The young animals first have a normal mouth, then the lower jaw grows first, so that they look like the related half-beak (Hemiramphidae). The upper jaw follows later.

The fins do not have hard rays. The dorsal and anal fins are located far back on the body, the pelvic fins are roughly in the middle of the body. The eyes of the garfish have special protection against the bright light coming from above, to which they are particularly exposed as surface fish. The iris has a lobe in its upper part that reduces the penetration of direct sunlight. The shape and size of the iris lobe are different for each species.

Small freshwater species are only 6 to 7 inches long, while large marine species can grow up to 2 meters in length.

distribution

The animals have a worldwide distribution in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas, in brackish and fresh waters. The common garfish ( Belone belone ) lives in the Eastern Atlantic, from Iceland to the Canary Islands, in the Mediterranean , in the Black Sea and in the North and Baltic Seas .

Others

The native common garfish ( belone belone ) grows to a meter long. It is a very popular food fish, but it is not fished commercially. On the coasts of the southern and western Baltic Sea, it is fished especially in early summer (around the beginning of May for a maximum of 3 weeks), as it then comes near the beach to spawn. The Greifswalder Bodden is a popular spawning area . Its green bones are striking. This color is produced by the breakdown of the red blood pigment hemoglobin to biliverdin .

Garfish feed on small open water fish and free-swimming crustaceans, which they hunt quickly by hitting the prey (like the bonefish ) mostly sideways. When hunting, on the run or to get rid of parasites , garfish can jump far out of the water.

Garfish attach their spawn with adhesive threads to solid substrates floating in the water, such as seaweed, flotsam or even boats.

Systematics

Ablennes hians
Cololabis saira
Potamorhaphis cf. guianensis
Scomberesox saurus
Strongylura incisa
Strongylura marina
Xenentodon cancila

Family Belonidae

literature

Web links

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