Atlantic stargazer: Difference between revisions
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==Biology== |
==Biology== |
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=== Feeding === |
=== Feeding === |
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Like other '''stargazers''', it is an ambush predator which lies buried under sand with only its eyes showing. It has a large mouth, with a small strip of skin protruding from its lower jaw, which it moves in and out rapidly to act as a lure for prey. When a prey item comes near, the fish lunges toward the prey using a specially adapted [[vertebral column]] to generate the force by bending 60°, which takes less than 30 [[milliseconds]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Huet|first=Laurence|coauthors=Veronique Goosse, Eric Parmentier, Pierre Vandewalle|title=About some skeletal particularities of the first vertebrae related to the mode of prey capture in Uranoscopus scaber (Uranoscopidae)|journal=Cybium|year=1999|volume=23|issue=2|pages=161-167|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> It feeds primarily on smaller fishes, such as [[goby|gobies]], and small [[crustaceans]] |
Like other '''stargazers''', it is an ambush predator which lies buried under sand with only its eyes showing. It has a large mouth, with a small strip of skin protruding from its lower jaw, which it moves in and out rapidly to act as a lure for prey. When a prey item comes near, the fish lunges toward the prey using a specially adapted [[vertebral column]] to generate the force by bending 60°, which takes less than 30 [[milliseconds]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Huet|first=Laurence|coauthors=Veronique Goosse, Eric Parmentier, Pierre Vandewalle|title=About some skeletal particularities of the first vertebrae related to the mode of prey capture in Uranoscopus scaber (Uranoscopidae)|journal=Cybium|year=1999|volume=23|issue=2|pages=161-167|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> It feeds primarily on fish larvae and smaller fishes, such as [[goby|gobies]], [[Spicara|picarels]], and small [[crustaceans]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Young|first=John|title=The pupillary mechanism of the teleostean fish Uranoscopus scaber|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B|year=1931|month=February|volume=107|pages=464-485|doi=10.1098/rspb.1931.0009|accessdate=20 April 2013}}</ref> but has also been known to eat [[molluscs]], [[echinoderms]], [[annelids]], [[algae]] and plant material.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rizkalla|first=Samir I.|coauthors=Amal I. Philips|title=Feeding habits of the Atlantic stargazer fish Uranoscopus scaber Linneaus, 1758 (Family: Uranoscopidae) in Egyptian Mediterranean waters|journal=Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries|year=2008|volume=12|issue=1|pages=1-11|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> |
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=== Reproduction === |
=== Reproduction === |
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Revision as of 18:05, 21 April 2013
| Atlantic stargazer | |
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| Species: | U. scaber
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| Binomial name | |
| Uranoscopus scaber | |
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Atlantic stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber) is a marine, subtropical fish of family Uranoscopidae.
Distribution and habitat
It is widespread along the Atlantic coast of Europe and Africa, is very common in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and somewhat rare in the Bay of Biscay.[1] It is a demersal fish, which lives in sandy or muddy sand sediments along the upper slope of the continental shelf, between depths of 14m and 400m.[2] It is not an economically important fish, primarily caught as by-catch, but is ecologically important.[3]
Description
Typical of stargazers, its body is somewhat dorso-ventrally flattened, lacks a swimbladder,[4] and have been found as large as 35.0 cm in length, but is usually between 20 and 30 cm.[5] Its head and jaws are rotated upward, and has very large eyes and mouth. Its body is brown in color and can have numerous small light spots, with a lighter belly.
Biology
Feeding
Like other stargazers, it is an ambush predator which lies buried under sand with only its eyes showing. It has a large mouth, with a small strip of skin protruding from its lower jaw, which it moves in and out rapidly to act as a lure for prey. When a prey item comes near, the fish lunges toward the prey using a specially adapted vertebral column to generate the force by bending 60°, which takes less than 30 milliseconds.[6] It feeds primarily on fish larvae and smaller fishes, such as gobies, picarels, and small crustaceans,[7] but has also been known to eat molluscs, echinoderms, annelids, algae and plant material.[8]
Reproduction
They can spawn between April and September, depending on the region, and produce pelagic eggs, about 2mm in diameter. After hatching, the larvae, post-larvae, and juveniles remain pelagic. Males are slightly more common than females.[9]
Electric organ
All species within the Uranoscopus genus, along with those in Astroscopus, have evolved electric organs. These were both independently evolved, and are the only two genera within the order Perciformes to produce electric organ discharges (EODs). The atlantic stargazer, like other bioelectrogenic stargazers, produces pulse-type EODs while feeding and when it is disturbed. The atlantic stargazer produces EODs with the electric organ, derived from sonic muscles.[10] In other fishes, sonic muscles are used to produce sound by agitating the swim bladder.
Sourse
- ^ Uranoscopus scaber at FishBase
- ^ Coker, T. (2008). "Determination of batch fecundity in Uranoscopus scaber Linneaus, 1758 from the Aegean Sea, Turkey". Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 24: 85–87. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2007.01035.x.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Demirhan, S.A. (2007). "Age and growth of stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber L., 1758) in the southeastern Black Sea". Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 23: 692–694. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2007.00863.x.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Young, John (1930). "On the autonomic nervous system of the teleostean fish Uranoscopus scaber". The Quarterly Journal of Microscopial Science. 72: 492–535.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Demirhan, S.A. (2007). "Age and growth of stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber L., 1758) in the southeastern Black Sea". Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 23: 692–694. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2007.00863.x.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Huet, Laurence (1999). "About some skeletal particularities of the first vertebrae related to the mode of prey capture in Uranoscopus scaber (Uranoscopidae)". Cybium. 23 (2): 161–167.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Young, John (1931). "The pupillary mechanism of the teleostean fish Uranoscopus scaber". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. 107: 464–485. doi:10.1098/rspb.1931.0009.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Rizkalla, Samir I. (2008). "Feeding habits of the Atlantic stargazer fish Uranoscopus scaber Linneaus, 1758 (Family: Uranoscopidae) in Egyptian Mediterranean waters". Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries. 12 (1): 1–11.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Coker, T. (2008). "Determination of batch fecundity in Uranoscopus scaber Linneaus, 1758 from the Aegean Sea, Turkey". Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 24: 85–87. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2007.01035.x.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Alves-Gomes, J.A. (2001). "The evolution of electroreception and bioelectrogenesis in teleost fish: a phylogenetic perspective". Journal of Fish Biology. 58 (6): 1489–1511. doi:10.1006/jfbi.2001.1625.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)
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