
A sand lance or sandlance is a
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...
belonging to the family Ammodytidae. Several species of sand lances are commonly known as "
sand eels", though they are not related to
true eels. Another variant name is launce, and all names of the fish are references to its slender body and pointed snout. The family name (and genus name, ''
Ammodytes'') means "sand burrower", which describes the sand lance's habit of burrowing into sand to avoid tidal currents.
Sand lances are most commonly encountered by fishermen in the
North Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
and
North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
, but are found in oceans throughout the world. These fish do not have
pelvic fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...
s and do not develop
swim bladder
The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ (anatomy), organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift ...
s, staying true to their bottom-dwelling habit as adults. Both adult and larval sea lances primarily feed on
copepod
Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...
s.
Larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
l forms of this fish are perhaps the most abundant of all fish larvae in areas such as the northwest Atlantic, serving as a major food item for
cod
Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...
,
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
,
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
s and other commercially important species. As adults, sand lances are harvested commercially in some areas (primarily in Europe), leading to direct human competition with diving birds such as
puffin
Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...
s,
auk
Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the Uria, murres, guillemots, Aethia, auklets, puffins, and Brachyramphus, murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct speci ...
s,
tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...
s, and
cormorant
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...
s. Some species are inshore coastal dwellers, and digging for sand lances to use as a bait fish has been a popular pastime in coastal areas of Europe and North America. Other species are deep-water dwellers, some of which have only recently been described to science, and most of which lack common names.
Convergent evolution
Sand lances have
chameleon
Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...
-like independent eye movements and special focusing lenses. Sand lance also have a tongue that can quickly dart out of its mouth at high velocity, a ballistic tongue. Sand lances and chameleons share other features.
Chameleons And Their Amazing Tongues, November 6, 2022, ''biobubblepets.com''
Timeline
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from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene
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from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene
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from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
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from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene
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from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene
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from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.
See also
The sand lance has lent its name to two submarines of the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
:
* , a .
* , a ''Sturgeon''-class nuclear submarine.
References
*
biologists.org on independent eye movements
*
External links
profile at Fisheries and Oceans Canada
{{Taxonbar, from=Q695712
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte