Parasitic blunt-nosed eel
| Parasitic blunt-nosed eel | ||||||||||||
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Parasitic blunt-nosed eel ( Simenchelys parasiticus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the subfamily | ||||||||||||
| Simenchelyinae | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1879 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Simenchelys | ||||||||||||
| Gill, 1879 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Simenchelys parasiticus | ||||||||||||
| Gill, 1879 |
The parasitic blunt-nosed eel ( Simenchelys parasiticus ) lives at a depth between 300 and 1400 m.
features
The head is blunt and has a small, transverse mouth. The jaws and muscles are very strong. The gill slits are short and lie horizontally under the pectoral fins. The body has a cylindrical shape that becomes flatter at the side from the anus. The skin is covered with stunted scales. Parasite blunt-nosed eels can grow up to 61 cm long.
distribution
These eels are found on the east coast of Canada, in the western and northern Pacific, and off the coasts of South Africa and New Zealand. You just don't know whether it's one and the same species or different species. In any case, the blunt-nosed eels are very common.
nutrition
The young eels feed on small crustaceans. The adults presumably live parasitically, at least temporarily, that is, they bore into the bodies of other fish and eat them up from the inside. It appears that they only feed on halibut and other large fish that are either injured or dying.
literature
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World , John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
- Simenchelys parasitica on Fishbase.org (English)