The Atlantic needlefish (''Strongylura marina'') is a common demersal

needlefish Needlefish (family Belonidae) or long toms are piscivorous fishes primarily associated with very shallow marine habitats or the surface of the open sea. Some genera include species found in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments (e.g., ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

common in

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

s and other areas with minimal

current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (hydr ...

s. Body very elongated, rounded; extremely elongated jaws form a long beak, with numerous needle-like teeth; rear of the top jaw-bone by being exposed when the mouth is closed. It has no gill rakers, the fins without spines; low lobes at the front of the dorsal and anal fins. Its dorsal fin is composed of 14–17 rays, anal fins is composed of 16–20 rays, and pectorals 10–12. Atlantic needlefish are found from

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and have been known to venture into

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

for short periods, water columns, estuary, and reef associated.

Geographic range

''S. marina'' is found along western

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 se ...

coastal waters A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

from Maine to southern Brazil, including areas along the

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Atlantic needlefish are not restricted to ocean waters; they can be found in various

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

and are capable of ascending well upstream into fresh water. ''S. marina'' is found in

shallow waters Shallow water may refer to: * Waves and shallow water ** Shallow water equations * Shallow water marine environment * Shallow Water (album), ''Shallow Water'' (album) * Shallow Water, Kansas, unincorporated community in the United States * Shallow W ...

throughout the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

there depth max is 5 ft. In

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, ''S. marina'' is known to inhabit these drainage units:

Sabine Lake Sabine Lake is a bay on the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana, located approximately east of Houston and west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, adjoining the city of Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur. The lake is formed by the confluence ...

(including minor coastal drainages west to

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

), Galveston Bay (including minor coastal drainages west to mouth of

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...

), Brazos River,

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Bay (including minor coastal drainages west of mouth of

to the mouth of

Nueces River The Nueces River ( ; , ) is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nu ...

), and Nueces River. ''S. marina'' has also been introduced and now inhabits parts of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

drainage throughout

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Ecology

As juveniles, the diet of ''S. marina'' consists of 70%

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s, and

amphipods Amphipoda () is an order (biology), order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphip ...

and 30% fish, while adults are exclusively

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted rept ...

. The predators of ''S. marina'' include larger piscivorous fish such as the

Atlantic tarpon The Atlantic tarpon (''Megalops atlanticus'') is a ray-finned fish that inhabits coastal waters, estuary, estuaries, lagoons, and rivers. It is also known as the silver king. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean, typically in tropical and subtropica ...

(''Megalops atlanticus''). Less common predators include the

common bottlenose dolphin The common bottlenose dolphin or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops truncatus'') is one of three species of bottlenose dolphin in the genus ''Tursiops''. The common bottlenose dolphin is a very familiar dolphin due to the wide exposure it re ...

(''Tursiops truncatus'') and juvenile

lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Requiem shark, Carcharhinidae, known for its yellowish skin, which inspires its common name. It is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for ...

s (''Negaprion brevirostris''). Since they are surface

swimmers Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, Atlantic needlefish are also preyed upon by some

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s. The

competitors Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

of ''S. marina'' include similar-sized piscivorous fish species such as

bonefish The bonefish (''Albula vulpes'') is the type species of the Bonefishes, bonefish family (Albulidae), the only family in order Albuliformes. Taxonomy Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however 9 differ ...

. Although the maximum

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

''S. marina'' can tolerate is 36.9 ppt, they are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities, regularly venturing into fresh water.

Diet

The Atlantic Needlefish eat a variety of things based on their body composition. Their diet can range from feeding on shrimp, small fish such as killifishes and silversides. Besides shrimp, small fish, they eat various ''zooplankton'', ranging from ''zoobenthos'' to ''nekton''.Their ability to eat is to patiently stalk their prey then goes into the attack by tilting its long pointed mouth sideways into its scissor-like jaw.

Swimming behavior

Anguilliform locomotion is widespread among various aquatic animals and it represents a convergent strategy for being able to move through the water. Elongated fishes in various phylogenetic and ecological disparate families exhibit undulatory locomotion. The Atlantic Needlefish elongated teleost is related to the flying fishes that reside in the surface of water of coastal marine environments. Needlefishes possess a posterior arrangement of dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. The Atlantic Needlefish is a unique anguilliform swimmer that possesses through it prominent fins, which lives in coastal surface-waters, and can be able to propel itself across the surfaces of water to be able to escape predation. There has been no kinematic studies to date that has described the axial kinematics of anguilliform locomotion. Additionally, there has not been any data on the fin kinematics of anguilliform in swimming fishes, despite the fact the median fins may have some contribution substantially to the lateral body profile.

Life history

Spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

typically occurs in late

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

and

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. Spawning mostly inshore bays and estuaries. Evidence has suggested that they spawn in river mouths. In Texas, near ripe females have been reported in February. This species is believed to be an iteroparous springtime spawner which mature roughly at the age of 2. The Atlantic Needlefish lays demersal, transparent eggs 3.5-3.6 mm in diameter with chorionic filaments that protrude from the eggs being made. The filaments allow the eggs to remain within tangled mass that attach to submerged plants or other surfaces. Females lay

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

that have many long, filamentous

tendrils In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

which attach to floating

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

or other submerged objects and

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

s. ''S. marina'' reaches

reproductive The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

maturity two years after being hatched. Spawning activity occurs in shallow, inshore habitats with submerged

algal Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular microalgae, s ...

masses. ''S. marina'' depends on submerged vegetation for

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

and shelter. In the Gulf of Mexico, the eggs of ''S. marina'' attach to

sargassum ''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown macroalgae ( seaweed) in the order Fucales of the Phaeophyceae class. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and ...

seaweed.

Conservation

''S. marina'' is not currently considered to be a threatened species. It is not of high commercial importance, but a fishery exists for it and it is sometimes taken as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

. Sport fishermen take it by

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

and seining, and then use it as bait. Located is Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, the Atlantic Needlefish spend majority of their time offshore. However, few days before the full moon, large schools of the Atlantic Needlefish gather at particular beaches around the gulf to spawn. This event tends to occur in a specific time during the lunar cycle, and it only occurs in a few locations. This event has been occurring for a long time, and for generations, local families have taken advantage of the opportunity to fish, which has been now a tradition that is now limited to preserve local needlefish populations.

Danger To humans

The Atlantic needlefish are predatory schooling fish with an elongated slender jaw that have been known to leap out of the surfaces of water at incredible fast speeds. There have been multiple documents of instances that the Atlantic Needlefish has caused injuries to humans, and the injuries can be more severe that their external appearances would indicate. There have been few cases of penetration of head or neck trauma that has been caused by the fish. However, the report which caused injury to the human is reported to cause partial spinal cord injury, which was caused by the Needlefish. Which has led to beneficial aspects, such as neurosurgical intervention and antibiotic prophylaxis.

References

External links

''Strongylura marina''
Smithsonian Marine station at Fort Pierce * {{Taxonbar, from=Q6415650

Fish described in 1792 Fish of the Atlantic Ocean