Salmon herring

Salmon herring
	Salmon Herring ( Maurolicus muelleri )
Systematics
Cohort :	Euteleosteomorpha
Sub-cohort :	Stomiati
Order :	Maulstachler (Stomiiformes)
Family :	Deep-sea hatchetfish (Sternoptychidae)
Genre :	Maurolicus
Type :	Salmon herring
Scientific name
	Maurolicus muelleri
	( Gmelin , 1789)

Side view (above) and abdominal view (below) with luminous organs

The salmon herring ( Maurolicus muelleri ) is a small deep sea fish from the family of deep sea hatchet fish (Sternoptychidae). The fish live mainly in the Atlantic . The occurrence stretches in its eastern part from the coasts of Norway (also in many fjords) and Iceland over the western Mediterranean to the coast of the West African Senegal and then again from the coast of the Congo to Namibia . However, there is no salmon herring in the North Sea. In the western Atlantic there are deposits from Maine to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico , as well as across the Strait of Magellan to the southeastern Pacific off the coast of Chile .

features

The body of the salmon herring is covered with silvery scales, the back is dark, green-blue in color. In contrast to most other types of deep-sea hatchet fish, salmon herring is of normal fish shape. It has only one dorsal fin located at the back and one long, low adipose fin .

The fish are seven to eight centimeters long.

Fin formula : dorsal 9–11, anal 19–24

Way of life

Salmon herring live mesopelagic in the open sea during the day at depths of 150 to 250 meters, up to a maximum of 1500 meters. You undertake vertical hikes and ascend to a depth of 50 meters below the surface of the water at night. They mainly eat copepods and krill and are themselves an important food for many predatory fish.

Salmon herring spawn from March to September. A female lays 200 to 500 eggs, which rise to the surface of the water. The animals are sexually mature from the age of one year, the highest documented age is three years.

literature

Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .

Web links

Commons : Salmon Herring ( Maurolicus muelleri ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Salmon herring on Fishbase.org (English)