Pointed tail sunfish
| Pointed tail sunfish | ||||||||||||
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Pointed tail sunfish; Preparation in the Natural History Museum of Lisbon . |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Masturus | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1884 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Masturus lanceolatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Liénard , 1840) |
The pointed tail sunfish ( Masturus lanceolatus ( Gr .: "Mastax" = bite, "oura" = tail; Lat .: "Lanceolatus" = lanceolate)) is a rare and little known species of sunfish (Molidae). The range of the species is only vaguely known. The species may be found in tropical and temperate seas around the world. It lives at depths of up to 670 meters.
features
The pointed tail sunfish reach a maximum length of 3.3 meters and a maximum weight of two tons. In contrast to the more well-known sunfish ( Mola mola ), the body of the pointed-tail sunfish is not round like a millstone, but oval and 1.5 times longer than high. The middle part of the pseudo tail fin (clavus) is elongated and forms the tip that gives it its name. It is very long in young fish and gets shorter with age. The rest of the caudal fin is not wavy, as in Mola mola . The dorsal and anal fins face each other symmetrically, are tall and narrow and are supported by 15 to 19 ray-like cartilage rods. Both fins are far back on the body.
literature
- Kent E. Carpenter & Volker H. Niem: The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. in Volume 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). Page 3968, Rome, FAO. 1998, ISBN 92-5-104301-9
- Kent E. Carpenter: The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, 2002. Page 2015, ISBN 92-5-104827-4
Web links
- Pointed tail sunfish on Fishbase.org (English)