Mene maculata
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Mene maculata on sale in a supermarket in the Philippines. |
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| Mene maculata | ||||||||||||
| ( Bloch & Schneider , 1801) |
Mene maculata ("maculatus" = spotted) is a marine fish that occurs in the Indo-Pacific from the east coast of Africa to southern Japan, the Arafura Sea and northeastern Australia.
features
The fish generally reach a body length of 20 cm, maximum they are 30 cm long. Your body is very flattened laterally and discus-shaped, with an only slightly curved back profile, a wide belly profile and a sharp-edged chest. The standard length is 1.3 to 1.5 times the body height. On the back they are dark blue, the sides and belly are silver. Above and below the sideline , which runs high above, parallel to the back line, there are two to three rows of dark spots. The end of the sideline is below the end of the dorsal fin. The upper jaw is protractile (can be extended). Both jaws are covered with rows of small, slender teeth. The palate is toothless. The gill trap rays are well developed. Six are found on the upper and 23 on the lower branch of the first gill arch.
- Fin formula : dorsal 43-46; Anal 30–33, pectoral 15.
The dorsal and anal fins are long and low. The first rays of the fin are slightly raised in the dorsal fin . The first 3 to 10 are unbranched and prickly in young fish. The rays of the anal fin are overgrown with skin in adult fish, so that only their branched tips can be seen. The first two rays of the pelvic fin have grown together and are greatly elongated in adult fish. The pectoral fins are shorter than the head. The caudal fin is forked. Because of the tiny scales, the fish appears to have no scales.
Way of life
Mene maculata lives near the coast in deeper zones (50 to 200 m), especially near coral reefs , above the continental shelf and around larger islands and sometimes also seeks out river mouths. The fish feed on small, bottom-dwelling, invertebrates.
use
Mene maculata is considered an excellent food fish, is with trawls caught and fresh or dried marketed.
literature
- Heemstra, PC, 1984. Menidae. In W. Fischer & G. Bianchi (Eds.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean fishing area 51. Vol. 3.
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ et al. 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
Web links
- Mene maculata on Fishbase.org (English)