Biology:Pagetopsis macropterus
| Pagetopsis macropterus | |
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| P. macropterus | |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia
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| Species: | macropterus Boulenger, 1907
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Pagetopsis macropterus is a species of crocodile icefish with a circum-Antarctic distribution on the continental shelf and the South Shetland Islands. This demersal species has around 15 narrow dark bars, lighter at the center, on its grayish green body and dark stripes on its cheeks but has a whitish ventrical area. It grows to a maximum length of 33 cm (13 inches) and lives at depths of 5–655 metres (16 to 2150 ft). Adults feed on fishes and krill. It is of no interest to commercial fisheries.[1]
The defense posture, noted in a study in 1969, is opening the mouth wide, expanding the corner of the mouth and the opercula, erecting the dorsal fin, holding the flared pectoral fins at a right angle towards the body, and bending the body into a semicircle. The same study suggested that this behavior was developed to deter predators such as the Weddell seal (which preys heavily on this species).
References
- (pp. 396–397). In: O.Gon and P.C.Heemstra (eds). Fishes of the Southern Ocean. J.L.B.Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown.
Wikidata ☰ Q4540169 entry
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