Long-mouthed tweezer fish
| Long-mouthed tweezer fish | ||||||||||||
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Long-mouthed tweezers ( Forcipiger longirostris ) |
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| Forcipiger longirostris | ||||||||||||
| ( Broussonet , 1782) |
The long-mouthed tweezer fish or tube-mouthed tweezer fish ( Forcipiger longirostris ) differs from its otherwise confusingly similar relative, the yellow masked tweezer fish ( Forcipiger flavissimus ) , by its longer snout, smaller mouth and dark scales on the throat . In addition, it has only 10 to 11 dorsal fin spines, F. flavissimus has 12 spines.
The long-mouthed tweezer fish reaches a length of up to 22 cm. It is a territorial fish species and lives singly or in pairs in the tropical Indo-Pacific from the Seychelles to Tahiti and Pitcairn . It colonizes outer reefs , where it searches for small crabs and other invertebrates with its greatly elongated mouth. At the end of the trunk, the long-mouthed tweezer fish has a black eye-spot that serves to distract potential attackers from the actual head of the fish.
The long-mouthed tweezer fish is not suitable for keeping in saltwater aquariums because of its sensitivity.
Web links
- Long-mouthed tweezers on Fishbase.org (English)
- Tweezer fish on maldivers.de (German)
- Forcipiger longirostris inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Myers, R. & Pratchett, M., 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
literature
- Roger C. Steene: Butterfly and Angelfish, Volume 1 , 1977, Mergus Verlag, ISBN 3-88244-001-5
- Helmut Debelius , Rudie H. Kuiter : Falterfische, Chaetodontidae , 2003, Ulmer Verlag, ISBN 3-80014-243-0