Pacific sea wolf
| Pacific sea wolf | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific sea wolf ( Anarrhichthys ocellatus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Anarrhichthys | ||||||||||||
| Ayres , 1855 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Anarrhichthys ocellatus | ||||||||||||
| Ayres, 1855 |
The Pacific sea wolf ( Anarrhichthys ocellatus ) is a 2.00 to 2.4 meters long marine fish that is found in the northern Pacific from the Aleutian Islands, along the coast of southern Alaska to California at Imperial Beach .
features
The fish have a body that is much longer than that of the sea wolves of the genus Anarhichas . The color is usually gray or brown, sometimes greenish. On the flanks they have dark, oval spots that are brightly bordered. Young fish are often colored orange. The pelvic fins are missing, the sideline is incomplete. The jaws are set with conical fangs at the front and blunt molar and breaking teeth at the back. Fin formula : D 228-250, A 200-233, P 20. (C missing.)
Way of life
The Pacific sea wolf lives in rocky habitats, at depths of up to 220 meters. It feeds mainly on hard-shelled invertebrates and fish. During the day, the fish lives in crevices that it leaves in the evening to look for food, but to which it returns in the morning very faithfully to its location. It reaches sexual maturity at 4 - 7 years of age and is around 90 cm long. There is evidence that this species of fish is monogamous (for life). The egg ball is protected by both parents by wrapping their eel-like bodies around the clutch (approx. 100,000 large eggs). The fry are pelagic up to the age of two years .
literature
- Eschmeyer, Herald, Hamann: Pacific Coast Fishes , Peterson Field Guides, ISBN 0-395-33188-9
Web links
- Pacific Sea Wolf on Fishbase.org (English)
- Tanya Dewey: Anarrhichthys ocellatus. In: Animal Diversity Web. 2009, accessed February 23, 2013 .