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Posts Tagged ‘deep sea creature’

Grenadiers

03 Jan

Grenadier/Rat-tail fishFamily Macrouridae Scavengers of the deep, these long-tailed fish use their acute sense of smell to sniff out food in the darkness of the deep ocean.

Life span :They live typically for around 20-30 years.

Statistics :They are about 30-60cm (1-2ft)

Physical :DescriptionRat-tails have large heads and long, tapering tails which makes them look like large tadpoles. They have a blunt snout and chin barbels that help them to feel around on the sea bed for food. The mouth is on the underside of the head.

Distribution :They are found in deep waters, from the Arctic to Antarctic.

Habitat : They are benthic or bottom-dwelling fish found to depths of over 3,000m.

DietRat-tails : Has a varied diet, which includes fish, crustaceans and cephalopods.Some feed on animals swimming above the seabed, others pick their food off the sea floor. Some have hard, pointed snouts which allow them to plough through the sediment in search of worms and other small invertebrates.

 


 
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Pelican Eel

24 Dec

Pelican eel

Gulper/Pelican eel
Eurypharynx pelecanoides

This remarkable deep sea fish is not much more than a giant mouth with a long tail. The gulper eel’s tail is so long that it sometimes gets tied in knots.

Statistics
This species of gulper eel grows up to 60cm (2ft), although some other species can be up to 2m (6ft) in length.

Physical Description
Gulper eels have enormous mouths which are loosely-hinged, so that they can be opened wide like a net. This allows them to swallow animals much larger than themselves. The stomach can also expand to accommodate a very large meal.

They are black, and have long whip-like tails with a red bioluminescent organ at the tip. The eyes are very tiny and positioned at the end of the snout.

Distribution
They inhabit all temperate and tropical seas.

Habitat
Gulper eels are found at depths of 500-7,500m.

Diet
Food is scarce thousands of metres down, so it’s important to be able to eat whatever comes along. This species has poorly developed teeth, so mainly eats small crustaceans, but will also feed on fish and cephalopods.

Behaviour
The glowing tip of the gulper eel’s tail is thought to act as a lure to attract prey. It hangs in the water column, waiting for prey to come near, and then scoops it up with it’s umbrella-like mouth.

Reproduction
Gulper eels are like other types of eel in having transparent, leaf-shaped larvae known as leptocephali.

 
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Ocean Sunfish

22 Dec

Info :

Ocean Sunfish

Ocean Sunfish

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.

Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate.[1] Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.

Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, orcas and sharks will consume them. Among humans, sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, the Korean peninsula and Taiwan. In the EU, regulations ban the sale of fish[2] and fishery products[3] derived of the Molidae family. Sunfish are frequently, though accidentally, caught in gillnets, and are also vulnerable to harm or death from encounters with floating trash, such as plastic bags.

A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes pufferfish, porcupinefish and filefish, the sunfish shares many traits common to members of this order. It was originally classified as Tetraodon mola under the pufferfish genus, but it has since been given its own genus, Mola, with two species under it. The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the type species of the genus.

 
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Posted in Deep Sea Creatures, Ocean Sunfish