Disc bellies

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Disc bellies
Liparis fabricii

Liparis fabricii

Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order : Perch-like (Perciformes)
Subordination : Cottoidei
Partial order : Bull relatives (Cottales)
Family : Disc bellies
Scientific name
Liparidae
Scopoli , 1777

The disk bellies (Liparidae) are a family of fish from the group of bull relatives (Cottales). The 29 genera and over 400 species live in temperate, cold and arctic areas of the Atlantic and Pacific as well as in tidal pools and deep-sea trenches. More than 60 species of disc bellies live in the Southern Ocean , on the shelf of the Antarctic . They make up almost a third of the fish species there. The only species of the family in the North Sea are the large disk belly ( Liparis liparis ) and the small disk belly ( Liparis montagui ).

features

The pelvic fins are transformed into a suction disk. The dorsal and anal fins form long seams. The skin is flaky and slimy, in English the animals are called “snailfish”. Most disc bellies are very small fish and thus resemble a large tadpole in terms of shape and swimming movements. Many species reach a length of just four centimeters, the largest species is 70 centimeters long. Their color is usually yellow-brown or reddish, pelagic species are often transparent.

Fin formula : dorsal 28–82, anal 24–76

Way of life

The disc bellies were previously considered to be very bad swimmers. For the deep-sea forms it was assumed that, similar to the blobfish from the related family Psychrolutidae , they move rather slowly in order to save energy and oxygen. However, recent research seems to disprove its reputation as a slow fish. Rather, the animals are very active and live together in groups. A Japanese research team has also recently made film recordings showing the animals eating at a depth of almost 8,000 m. There they feed on amphipods . A British team of researchers also succeeded in making film recordings of disc bellies at a depth of around 7700 m.

The filmed sighting of the disc- bellied species Pseudoliparis swirei at a depth of 8178 meters in the Mariana Trench represents the deepest ever find of a fish (as of August 2017). The observed specimen comes very close to the assumed maximum survival depth of 8200 m that can be achieved for fish. According to current knowledge, this is presumably due to the increasing concentration of trimethylamine-N-oxide to stabilize the proteins, which reaches the osmolality of seawater at a depth of 8200 m in the cells and at higher concentrations to an osmotic influx of seawater without further countermeasures into the cells.

Systematics

The disk bellies belong to the partial order of the bull relatives ( Cottales ), are the sister group of the sea ​​hares (Cyclopteridae) and are united with them in the superfamily Cyclopteroidea.

Genera and species

possibly Elassodiscus tremebundus ,
caught in the eastern Bering Sea

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Agnes Dettai, Guillaume Lecointre: In search of notothenioid (Teleostei) relatives. In: Antarctic Science. 16 (1) 2004, pp. 71-85 doi: 10.1017 / S095410200400183X
  2. Researchers film live fish at record depth. In: Spiegel Online. October 9, 2008, accessed August 25, 2017 .
  3. Press Releases <JAMSTEC. Retrieved August 25, 2017 .
  4. PH Yancey, ME Gerringer, JC Drazen, AA Rowden, A. Jamieson: Marine fish may be biochemically constrained from inhabiting the deepest ocean depths . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 111 , no. 12 , March 25, 2014, p. 4461-4465 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1322003111 .

Web links

Commons : Bellies  - Collection of images, videos and audio files