Rough flute fish
| Rough flute fish | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
preserved specimen |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Fistularia petimba | ||||||||||||
| Lacepède , 1803 |
The rough flute fish ( Fistularia petimba ) is a very slender, elongated predatory fish that is widespread in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific .
distribution
In the Atlantic, its distribution area extends in the east from the coast of the Spanish region of Galicia to Angola , in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to southern Brazil. In the Indo-Pacific, it occurs from the East African coast to southern Japan, Victoria (Australia), Hawaii and Tuamotu . He also lives in the Red Sea . Catches on the Andalusian coast show that it migrated into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar . In the eastern Pacific, it is being replaced by Fistularia corneta , a very similar species.
features
The rough flute fish can reach a maximum length of two meters, but is usually 1.50 to 1.80 meters in length. Its body is cylindrical and very thin. It has a conspicuous, elongated, tubular snout. The dorsal fin is supported by 13 to 15 soft rays, the anal fin by 13 to 15. The caudal fin ends in a long filament. The rough flute fish is reddish or greenish-brown to orange-brown in color. At night it shows a pattern of wide transverse bands. Young fish are spotted. A number of bone plates can be seen in front of and behind the dorsal fin.
It is often confused with the smooth flute fish ( Fistularia commersoni ), which is greenish-brown in color and has no bone plates on the middle of its back.
Way of life
The rough flute fish inhabits areas near the coast with soft soils, usually at depths of less than 10 meters, adult animals less than 30 meters. In the tropics it occurs only in areas where cool buoyant water reaches the surface. It lives as a loner or in small schools and feeds on small fish and crustaceans .
literature
- Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses, pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives , 2001, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8001-3244-3
Individual evidence
- ↑ CIESM Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea: Fistularia petimba Lacepede, 1803
Web links
- Rough flute fish on Fishbase.org (English)