Stone picker
| Stone picker | ||||||||||||
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Stone picker ( Agonus cataphractus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Agonus | ||||||||||||
| Bloch & Schneider , 1801 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Agonus cataphractus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The stone picker ( Agonus cataphractus ) is a bottom-living bony fish in the northeastern Atlantic , in the North Sea and the southern Baltic Sea . The species is the only representative of the genus Agonus ( gr . Agonos - "sterile", "not giving birth") in the family of the armored bulls (Agonidae). The animals, which grow to be 21 cm long, have a broad, armored head and body and a slender tail stem and resemble the much larger sea scorpion .
Stone pickers live on soft soils , where they feed on shrimp and other small crustaceans. The North Sea population migrates to the rocky grounds off Heligoland during spawning time in spring and lays their yellow egg clumps between the algae and seaweed. The animals can even be seen in the fringes of the beaches. The fish larvae hatch after 10 months.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erwin J. Hentschel and Günther H. Wagner: Zoological dictionary , 6th edition. Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1996
- ↑ www.zeeinzicht.nl . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Klaus Janke / Bruno P. Kremer: The Watt. Habitat, Animals and Plants, Stuttgart: Franckh 1990, p. 74, ISBN 3-440-06035-7
Web links
- Steinpicker on Fishbase.org (English)