Mediterranean Anthias
| Mediterranean Anthias | ||||||||||||
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Mediterranean anthias ( Anthias anthias ) ♂ |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Anthias anthias | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Mediterranean anthias ( Anthias anthias ) is a species of the sawfish (Serranidae). Despite its German name, it not only lives in the Mediterranean , but also near the coast of the eastern Atlantic from Portugal , the Azores , Madeira , the Canary Islands and along the West African coast to Angola .
features
Mediterranean anthias have the reddish color of almost all anthias. On the head there are more or less clearly some yellow bands. The caudal fin is sickle-shaped and deeply incised, the lower part is longer than the upper. Characteristic are the very long drawn out ventral fins and the elongated third ray of the dorsal fin of the males. Mediterranean anthias grow to be 6 to 10 inches long.
Way of life
The fish stay in small schools at depths of 25 to 300 meters near the rocky coast. The species is very light-shy and spends the day at shallower depths in caves and shelters. They feed on zooplankton and fish larvae.
Like all perch, the animals are hermaphrodites , which initially live as females for a while, only to later undergo a transformation to the male sex. The fish live in harem groups with one male and several females, but unlike the tropical anthias, they have no fixed territories outside of the spawning season. Due to the reduced enemy pressure in the Mediterranean compared to the coral reef habitat , the animals venture much further out into the open water. During the breeding season in summer, the males form territories which they defend extremely vigorously. Spawning only takes place at dusk. The male swims quickly with a female from his territory, the fish spin around each other very quickly and release their gametes in the process. Then they swim back to their territory. Now the male mates with another female in order to spawn with her too. Like all anthias , Anthias anthias is a free spawner who does not care for the brood .
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Helmut Dibelius: The common care of invertebrates and tropical marine fish in the aquarium. Mergus, Melle 1997, ISBN 3-88244-110-0 ( Sea Water Atlas. Volume 1).
- Matthias Bergbauer, Bernd Humberg: What lives in the Mediterranean? Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07733-0 .
Web links
- Mediterranean Anthias on Fishbase.org (English)