Torpedo perch
| Torpedo perch | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Starck's torpedo perch ( Hoplolatilus starcki ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Malacanthidae | ||||||||||||
| Günther , 1861 | ||||||||||||
The torpedo perches (Malacanthidae) are a family of perch relatives (Percomorphaceae). They live in the tropical Indo-Pacific and the western Atlantic . The blue-headed brick perch ( Malacanthus latovittatus ) also goes into brackish water . Torpedo perches are now and then imported for marine aquariums , but usually do not survive long because they are caught with poison.
features
Torpedo perch are slender perch that can reach a length of eleven centimeters to 1.25 meters. Their body is cylindrical, almost round in cross-section and only slightly flattened on the sides, the head profile is round. Your dorsal fin is long and supported by a total of 22 to 84 fin rays, the anal fin has two fin rays and 11 to 55 soft rays. The ventral fins , which are far in front, have a fin spine and five soft rays. The caudal fin is forked or rounded. The gill cover is provided with a thorn, which is particularly sharp in the subfamily Malacanthinae and the genus Caulolatilus . The number of Branchiostegal rays is six, those of the vertebrae 24, 25 or 27, of which ten or eleven are in front of the anus. The scales of the larvae are prickly. Often the young fish are colored differently than the adult fish. The chameleon torpedo perch ( Hoplolatilus chlupatyi ) has the ability to change color.
Way of life
Most species feed on zooplankton that they snap up in open water. The German name torpedo perch comes from the lightning-fast swimming movements when hunting for prey. Other species eat benthic invertebrates.
Reproduction is unknown. The fish are probably not doing brood care. They are protogynous hermaphrodites, which are initially female after reaching sexual maturity and transform into males at the age of one to two years.
Systematics
The systematic position of the Malacanthidae is controversial. Some scientists put them together with the at that time mostly to the armored cheeks (Scorpaeniformes) counted flying cocks (Dactylopteridae) in the common suborder Dactylopteroidei. According to more recent findings, however, they are more closely related to the sweetlips and grunts (Haemulidae) and the snappers (Lutjanidae).
There are two subfamilies hochrückigeren and usually live at depths greater than 50 meters brick perch (Latilinae) with about 28 species and the slimmer in shallow water less than 50 meters deep living Malacanthinae (tilefish narrow sense ) with 14 species.
literature
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World , John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
- Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like) , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1998, ISBN 3-88244-107-0
- Dieter Eichler / Robert F. Myers: Korallenfische Indopazifik , Jahr-Verlag GmbH & Co., 1997, ISBN 3-86132-225-0
Web links
- Torpedo perch on Fishbase.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ DeepFin.org: New and Revised Classification for Bony Fishes based on Molecular Data - version 2 ( Memento of the original dated December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 27, 2013)
