Anarhichas
lupus Linnaeus, 1758
|
his fish is technically not a catfish
even although it does goes under the common name of "Sea Catfishes"
with two other species, A. denticulatus and A. minor.
It is in fact related to the blennies and not to the true catfishes
(no barbels and has scales) The name Sea Catfish gave me a good
excuse to include this "only its mother would love it"
character and its other more popular name of the Wolf Fish gives
its true character away as a bit of an "ugly duckling"
but we catfish folk can put up with our charges not being too facially
challenged.
A friend of mine who lives
on the East coast of Scotland likes to reiterate the story of
a local fisherman who waded out knee deep to pull his rowing boat
up to the shore and ended up with a nasty gash in his foot and
a never to be worn wading boot again.
As you might be aware by now this
is not a tropical (cat)fish but a marine fish that is confined
to the temperate and boreel waters of the northern hemisphere.
There are in fact three species that occur in northern European
seas, A.lupus, A.minor and A.denticulatus. A.lupus has
a long dorsal and anal fin with a very small truncate caudal.
This genus does not posses ventral
fins and has huge dog-like teeth in the front of the jaws and
rounded crushing teeth in the sides and palate. These teeth are
used to break up mollusc's.
It lives close to the sea-bed in
moderately deep water with a depth range of 1 - 500m., and on
occasion are caught by sport fishermen. Its flesh seemingly is
well flavoured and firm and its skin can be prepared as leather.
Pectorals: very large
, lobe-like. Gill membranes united to isthmus. Only spinous dorsal
fin present. No pelvic fins, pelvic girdle vestigial. Small or pointed
caudal fin. Jaws bearing strong conical canine teeth at the front;
large molariform teeth at the sides.
Ground colour usually greyish-green but almost
black or reddish -brown. Body with 10-15 transverse, dark bars extended
to the dorsal fin
An aquarium fish, I don't
think so!, unless some native marine keepers know better, as it
can grow to a quite considerable size ( see size). The specimen
in the photograph was pictured in a public aquarium in the Sea-Life
Centre in Oban, Argyll, Scotland.
| Sexual
differences |
It is said that the females
underside is a dirty white colour whereas the males have a
flecked pattern.
|
| Breeding |
Spawns in the winter with the eggs being deposited
as a ball-like clump on the sea-bed. The larvae stay at the bottom
until their yolk-sac is used up. They are then found to swim in
the mid to surface layers of the ocean until late autumn when they
retire back to the sea-bed.
There has been a reported spawing in captivity in a Public Aquarium.
Macduff
Marine Aquarium in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
reported that the parents laid a clutch of pink eggs in the early
part of 2009 and the babies are being raised in a seperate aquarium.
Adults and juveniles feed on crabs, sea urchins,
mussels, whelks and scallops.
| Etymology |
Anarhichas,
anarrhichesis from the Greek, to climb, the action of climbing
|
| References |
Wheeler, Alwyne.
Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe 1978.
Allan James @
 |
|
|
| Synonyms:
|
| Anarhichas lupus marisalbi,
Anarhichas vomerinus, Anarhichas strigosus |
| Common
Name: |
| Sea Catfish or Wolf-Fish |
| Family: |
| Anarhichidae |
| Subfamily: |
| |
| Distribution: |
Iceland,
in the seas of Iceland and the Faroes.
Norway, in the seas of Norway.
United Kingdom, around the British
Isles. |
| Size: |
| 1.25m (49¼ins.) |
| Temp: |
| Cold and very cold! |
| pH.: |
| 7.0 and above. |
| Donation: |
If you found this page helpful
you can help keep ScotCat running by making a small donation,
Thanks.
|
|
| |
|
|
