Striped coral catfish
| Striped coral catfish | ||||||||||||
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Striped coral catfish ( Plotosus lineatus ), juvenile |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Plotosus lineatus | ||||||||||||
| Bleeker , 1858 |
The striped coral catfish ( Plotosus lineatus ) is one of the few in the sea and the only catfish living in coral reefs . The fish are found in the Red Sea and in the tropical Indo-Pacific from East and South Africa to Samoa , Lord Howe Island and the Korean Peninsula .
features
Striped coral catfish have a slender, almost eel-shaped body. The first dorsal fin is high and short. The second has grown together with the caudal and anal fin and forms a continuous fin edge. In front of the first dorsal fins and the two pelvic fins there is a strong, sawn stinger that is connected to poison glands and can cause severe pain in humans when stung. Around the wide, slightly lower mouth there are eight barbels , two pairs on the upper lip and two on the lower lip. Like most catfish, the striped coral catfish has no scales. The color is dark gray-brown, the belly is lighter. In juvenile fish, two white longitudinal stripes run along each side of the body, one begins above the eye, the other below. With increasing age, the stripes become narrower and are barely visible in adult animals. Striped coral catfish are 32 centimeters long.
Way of life
Striped coral catfish live in shallow water, at depths of up to 35 meters, over soft and sandy bottoms in lagoons and in coral reefs. Young animals organize themselves in dense swarms that can be over 1000 animals strong. The swarm is usually spherical or cylindrical in shape and "rolls" over the sea floor, while the animals in front looking for food on the bottom are overtaken by those swimming above them, which in turn look for food until they get to the end of the swarm and at the Top of the group swim forward again. The dense swarm is likely to simulate a larger animal and thus provide protection from predators.
Adult coral catfish are crepuscular and nocturnal and spend the day in hiding places such as caves and between corals. They eat smaller fish and invertebrates . To reproduce, they dig sand pits in hidden places and lay their eggs in them. The eggs are guarded by the male until the six to seven millimeter large young hatch after about ten days. The fry initially live pelagic until they move on to bottom life.
literature
- Robert A. Patzner, Horst Moosleitner: Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like), as well as butterfly and angelfish. Mergus, Melle 1999, ISBN 3-88244-116-X ( Sea Water Atlas. Volume 6).
- W. Fiedler: Striped coral catfish (Plotosus lineatus). In: Coral. No. 41, October / November 2006, ISSN 1439-779X .
Web links
- Striped coral catfish on Fishbase.org (English)