Lophotus lacepede
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Lophotus lacepede |
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| Lophotus lacepede | ||||||||||||
| Giorna , 1809 |
Lophotus lacepede is a species of fish fromthe scopfish family (Lophotidae). The animals occur in all oceans between 51 ° north latitude and 45 ° south latitude, in Europe in the western Mediterranean , off the coast of Portugal and in Madeira and the Canary Islands . They are rare and live in the open ocean, mostly mesopelagic in the deep sea. Occasionally they get lost in shallow bank regions.
Way of life
The fish feed on smaller fish ( anchovies ) and squids and are eaten by tuna themselves . They lay eggs . Eggs and larvae are planktonic . In dangerous situations, Lophotus lacepede , like many cephalopods , can expel an ink-like, black liquid from the cesspool.
features
Lophotus lacepede becomes two meters long and has a ribbon-shaped, elongated and laterally strongly flattened body. The head and trunk are silver, the fins are red. The dorsal fin is long, begins directly on the angular head, the first rays of the fin are drawn out. The anal and caudal fin are tiny, the anal fin is far back, just before the caudal fin. Ventral fins are missing. The scales are small cycloid scales and easily detach from the body.
Fin formula : dorsal 206–263, anal 5–20
literature
- William N. Eschmeyer, Earl D. Herald, Howard Hamann: A field guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of North America. From the gulf of Alaska to Baja California . Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass. 1983, ISBN 0-395-33188-9 (Peterson Field Guides; 28)
Web links
- Lophotus lacepede on Fishbase.org (English)