Snake skin wrasse
| Snake skin wrasse | ||||||||||||
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Snake skin wrasse ( Eupetrichthys angustipes ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Eupetrichthys | ||||||||||||
| Ramsay & Ogilby , 1888 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Eupetrichthys angustipes | ||||||||||||
| Ramsay & Ogilby, 1888 |
The snake skin wrasse ( Eupetrichthys angustipes ) is a small wrasse that is endemic to the south coast of Australia. It is the only species in its genus. It lives from Western Australia to New South Wales , but it is rare in the Bass Strait , the strait that separates Tasmania from southern Australia. It is mainly found near the coast, at depths of up to 40 meters, over scree and rocks with weak algae growth.
features
The snake skin wrasse becomes 15 centimeters long. The upper half of its elongated body, covered with large scales, is brown to olive green, the underside is light, mostly white, sometimes yellow. The color border runs along the side line organ and is very clear. The head is light and black dotted, the body patterned by six broad transverse bands. The transverse bands are brown to black, below the sideline sometimes light brown or orange. In adult males, the transverse ligaments continue on the dorsal and anal fin and are then reddish. The edges of the anal and caudal fin are marked with fine blue lines.
The snake skin wrasse has a characteristic swimming style in which it often lets its tail drag across the ground.
literature
- Helmut Debelius , Rudie H. Kuiter : Wrasse. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3973-1
Web links
- Snakeskin wrasse on Fishbase.org (English)
- Eupetrichthys angustipes inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Russell, B., Choat, JH & Pollard, D., 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2014.