Southern pigfish: Difference between revisions
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| Southern Pigfish | |
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| Scientific classification | |
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| Genus: | Congiopodus
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| Species: | C. leucopaecilus
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| Binomial name | |
| Congiopodus leucopaecilus Moreland, 1960
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The Southern Pigfish, (Congiopodus leucopaecilus) is a pigfish, of the genus Congiopodus, found around southern Australia, and New Zealand, at depths of up to 100 metres. It is between 20 and 35 centimetres in length.
The Southern Pigfish is an elongate species with a steep front profile ending in a pointed snout with a tube-like mouth bearing many bands of small teeth in each jaw. The head is covered in bony plates and the dorsal fin is high and crest-like, extending forward almost to the large eye. The pectoral and pelvic fins have long thick rays forming props for resting on the sea floor which is where the Southern Pigfish spends a lot of time.
Its colouration is brown or pink-brown with darker markings, and shorter whitish bars on the flanks. There are narrow dark bars on the fins and tail.
They feed on crabs, worms, and other invertebrates which it finds by using its long snout to probe into crevices.
References
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Alertichthys blacki". FishBase. January 2006 version.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8