Pacific trumpet fish
| Pacific trumpet fish | ||||||||||||
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Pacific trumpet fish, yellow color morph. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aulostomus chinensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The Pacific trumpet fish ( Aulostomus chinensis ) is found in the Red Sea and throughout the Indo-Pacific, from the east coast of Africa to Panama . In the north it reaches southern Japan and Hawaii , in the south Lord Howe and Easter Island .
features
The Pacific Trumpetfish grows to a maximum of 80 centimeters, but usually stays at 60 centimeters. Its elongated, rod-shaped body is variable in color. It can be solid yellow, green, or brown, or speckled brown to gray. There is usually a black stripe over the maxillary (upper jawbone), but it can also be missing. Its conspicuous, tubular snout can be ripped open to the diameter of its body. The dorsal and anal fins sit symmetrically to each other far back, just before the caudal fin. They are supported by 24 to 27 or 26 to 29 soft, segmented fin rays. In front of the soft-radiated dorsal fin there are eight to twelve short fin spines that are isolated from one another and not connected by a fin membrane. The pelvic fins are in the middle of the body. They are small with six fin rays. The dorsal and anal fins are transparent, their base is often marked by a dark bar. There are usually two black spots at the base of the caudal fin, and one more at the base of the pelvic fin. The body is covered with small comb scales, the head and front back are scaly. The number of vertebrae is 62 to 64, the first four are elongated and fused together. The sideline is continuous.
Way of life
Pacific trumpet fish live solitary at depths of 3 to 122 meters. They occur in rock and coral reefs and are usually found near the sea floor. They feed on fish or shrimp and in the course of their life they usually specialize in one type of prey, i. That is, they then only eat small fish or only shrimp. When catching prey, they swim slowly towards the victim and then suck it in by suddenly opening their mouths. Often they also approach the prey by using larger fish for camouflage. During the breeding season, the males compete for the females. The mating takes place at dusk just before dark.
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6. Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle 1998 ISBN 3-88244-116-X
- Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses, pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives . Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001 ISBN 3-8001-3244-3
- RA Fritzsche: Aulostomidae. In: W. Fischer and G. Bianchi (Eds.): FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean. Fishing Area 51. Vol. 1, 1984 PDF (English)
Web links
- Pacific Trompetenfisch on Fishbase.org (English)