Anemone Guardian
| Anemone Guardian | ||||||||||||
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Anemone Guardian ( Oxylebius pictus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Oxylebius | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1862 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Oxylebius pictus | ||||||||||||
| Gill, 1862 |
The anemone guardian ( Oxylebius pictus ) is a small marine fish that occurs on the Pacific coast of North America from Kodiak Island south to central Baja California .
features
The anemone guardian has a laterally flattened body of gray, brown or reddish color, sometimes with small white spots. The throat region usually has dark spots. Three dark lines emanate from the eye, one towards the front, the other two towards the back. On the sides there are five to seven vertical darker bands that continue down to the unpaired fins. The large pectoral, ventral, and caudal fins have dark spots. The anemone guard is a maximum of 25 centimeters long, but usually stays at a length of 15 centimeters. The number of vertebrae is 36 to 39.
Fin formula : dorsal XVI / 14–16, anals III – IV / 12–13.
The soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin is higher than that supported by spines. The anal fin is incised between the hard and soft radiating part. The caudal fin is rounded. The pelvic fins do not reach the anus. The head is scaled, the mouth pointed. There is a fleshy outgrowth above each eye, a pair on the back of the head halfway between the eyes and the base of the dorsal fin. The anemone guard has a single side line , the other Hexagrammidae except for the cod ( Ophiodon elongatus ) have five side lines.
Way of life
The anemone guardian lives in rocky habitats from the intertidal zone to depths of 50 meters. It feeds mainly on small crustaceans , polystyrene , small molluscs and bog animals . The fish is described by divers as sluggish and mostly motionless resting. The anemone guard sleeps on the mouth disk of sea anemones , mostly Urticina lofotensis and 2% of Urticina piscivora , without being injured or caught by them. Both species offer Oxylebius pictus effective protection against predators. Since both sea anemones are also associated with copepods (Copepoda), they also serve as feeding grounds for the fish. The sea anemone has no discernible benefit from this connection, so this relationship must be called commensal .
literature
- Eschmeyer, Herald, Hamann: Pacific Coast Fishes , Peterson Field Guides, ISBN 0-395-33188-9
- Joel Elliott: The role of sea anemones as refuges and feeding habitats for the temperate fish Oxylebius pictus. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 35 (4): 381-400, 1992. doi: 10.1007 / BF00004991
Web links
- Anemone Guard on Fishbase.org (English)