Sunday, January 28, 2007

Pancake batfish

I was looking through a book to find out what kind of species lived in the Northern Gulf of Mexico when I came across this particular fish. I thought it looked kind of cool and different, so I wanted to find out more. Unfortunately i could not find much but here is what i did find out so far:
The pancake batfish (Halieutichthys aculeatus) is one of several fish found in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. They belong to the family Ogcocephalidae, the order lophiiformes and class actinopterygii. This fish is also found in the Western Atlantic, Bahamas and North Carolina. They are usually reef associated fish in subtropical environments. They can grow to sizes of up to 10 cm. They are harmless fish that like sandy-bottom ecosystems and usually spend their days resting on the bottom covered by a thin layer of sand. These fish are called the 'pancake batfish' because the are flat and almost resemble a pancake. The are brown in color on the top and white on their undersides. They have spikes-like fins sticking out of them dorsally. Their head is broadly rounded, they have large pectoral fins and they have a banded caudel and pectoral fins. Sometimes these fish are commonly taking up in the nets from bottom trawling.

Read More~>
~http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/summary/speciessummary.php?id=3091

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