Comb hair tail
| Comb hair tail | ||||||||||||
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Comb hair tail ( tentoriceps cristatus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Tentoriceps | ||||||||||||
| Whitley , 1948 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Tentoriceps cristatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Klunzinger , 1884) |
The comb hair tail ( Tentoriceps cristatus ) is a bony fish from the family of hair tails (Trichiuridae) in the order Scombriformes within the barbed fins , namely in the subfamily Trichiurinae, in which there is no tail fin. The end of the body is not completely thread-shaped, but somewhat (worm-like) thickened (parts of the caudal fin skeleton are still present). The purpose of this particular construction is unknown. Presumably the tentoriceps can swim amiiform with the dorsal fin (see fins ) in order to “sneak up” on prey.
description
The completely ribbon-shaped fish of light silver color is barely 1 m long, 5–6 cm high and barely 1 cm wide. The only clearly visible fin is the dorsal fin (D) with 130–150 rays, the first five of which are considered "hard rays", although they differ little from the others. The front part of this D rises slowly (up to about the 12th ray). The "comb" formed by the D continues on the skull up to the snout (name: tentor "Dehner, Spanner", -ceps "-kopf", crista "(cocks) comb"). There is an anal fin (A) with two and 47–50 rays, but very low (hardly protruding from the skin). Both fins end at the slightly thickened rear end of the axle, which they do not include. The small pectoral fins (P 11) are quite broad, but short and covered at the roots by the membranous, elongated gill covers. Only remnants of the pelvic fins (V) are present in the form of two elongated scales (ventrally at the level of about the 10th D-ray). The sideline is slightly shifted anteriorly. The food is made up of small fish, swimming crabs and octopus, and the teeth are also adapted to this: a group of fangs in the front of the upper jaw, a few in the lower jaw, otherwise a row of smaller, pointed teeth. The lower jaw in particular has a connective tissue extension (sense of touch?). The eyes are quite large (probably also nocturnal). 152–164 vertebrae (45 to 48 of them in the trunk); (mostly) 12 pyloric tubes .
Occurrence
The fish discovered by Klunzinger (Kosseir) in the Red Sea and described as " Trichiurus cristatus " is now known from the entire Indian Ocean between Madagascar, Western Australia and the South Island of Japan, to the east coast of Australia and New Guinea. However, it was hardly found by ichthyologists, so that it was considered "lost" for a long time - until T. Senta re-described it in 1975. Whitley established the ( monotypic ) genus Tentoriceps (1948) without investigation. It turned out that this fish is often found in trawls, especially in the Indo-Australian area (with other trichiurids) and z. B. in the Philippines, dried or salted, also reaches the market. Its color faded while soon to a spotted Grau.- He bathy- lives up epi pelagic up to about 110 m depth. It was noticed that it does not occur in parts of the sea with a salinity lower than 3.5%.
literature
- Tetsushi Senta: Redescription of Trichiurid Fish Tentoriceps cristatus and its occurrence in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. In: Japanese Journal of Ichthyology. Vol. 21, No. 4, 1975, ISSN 0021-5090 , pp. 175-182.
Web link
- Comb hair tail on Fishbase.org (English)