Schnepfenaal
| Schnepfenaal | ||||||||||||
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Schnepfeneel ( Nemichthys scolopaceus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nemichthys scolopaceus | ||||||||||||
| Richardson , 1848 |
The snipe eel ( Nemichthys scolopaceus ) is a marine fish found worldwide in all oceans between 55 ° north and 42 ° south latitude.
features
The fish reach a maximum length of 1.30 meters. The body is long and thin and ends in a long filament-like thread. The dorsal fin is supported by about 350 fin rays, the anal fin by 320 fin rays. A caudal fin cannot be found. The mouth is drawn out like a pair of tweezers and bent apart at the ends. The fish are dark brown or gray in color, the underside is often darker. The anal fin and the ends of the pectoral fins are almost black.
distribution
The snipe eel lives in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas around the world. On the European coasts, its distribution area extends from the south coast of Iceland to Spain . It can also be found in the western Mediterranean and the Skagerrak .
Way of life
The Schnepfenaal lives from the sea surface to depths of 3600 meters, but mostly between 400 and 1000 meters, in the northern part of its range also between 100 and 400 meters. It feeds on small pelagic crustaceans , which it catches with its mouth wide open. The jaws regress after reaching sexual maturity. The Schnepfenaal reproduces therefore probably only once in its life ( semelparitia ) and is oviparous . The transparent larvae are planktonic leptocephalus larvae that live near the sea surface.
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
- Schnepfenaal on Fishbase.org (English)