''Chorisochismus dentex'', the rocksucker or giant clingfish, is a

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), ...

clingfish Clingfishes are ray-finned fishes of the family Gobiesocidae, the only family in the suborder Gobiesocoidei of the order Blenniiformes. These fairly small to very small fishes are widespread in tropical and temperate regions, mostly near the coa ...

found along the coast of

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

from

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

to northern

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

.Lubke, R., & I. De Mour (1998). ''Field Guide to the Eastern and Southern Cape Coasts'', p. 144. It inhabits the

intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...

and

subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...

zones in shallow reefs and rock pools. This species is the only known member of its

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Description

''C. dentex'' grows to a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of and is the largest species in the clingfish family (together with the similar-sized South American ''

Sicyases sanguineus ''Sicyases sanguineus'' is a species of amphibious marine clingfish in the family Gobiesocidae. It lives in the Southeast Pacific along the entire coast of Chile and southern Peru. Locally, it is known as ' (literally, toad-fish). It inhabits s ...

''). It has a broad head that tapers to a narrow tail and has large eyes. It varies in colour, but is typically mottled greenish or reddish. Dead and dried ''C. dentex'' are occasionally found by

beachcombers ''The Beachcombers'' is a Canadian comedy drama television series that ran on CBC Television from October 1, 1972, to December 12, 1990. With over 350 episodes, it is one of the longest-running dramatic series ever made for Canadian English-langu ...

, and their often red colour combined with their strange shape and proportionally large teeth have caused some to describe them as "sea monsters".

Distribution and habitat

This species is found living off the coasts of South Africa and Namibia. It is found from intertidal rock pools down to a depth of at least . It is most common in areas with flat boulders, but may also be found in kelp beds or crevices in caves.

Ecology

Feeding

Feeding varies with age. Juveniles mostly feed on small crustaceans. When between long, they gradually change to an adult diet. Adults are specialized feeders of patellid limpets (almost 75% of their diet), but also take significant quantities of other

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

s and

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

s, and low levels of

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora ( ), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as sea cradles or coat-of-mail shells or suck ...

s. Limpets are typically strongly attached to the rock surface and are difficult to dislodge. First the fish perches next to its prey. It then rapidly lunges forward and up, dives down with its mouth open, inserts its relatively large, fang-like upper front teeth below the edge of the limpet and flips it. It is immediately swallowed whole and the entire sequence typically only lasts about one second. It later regurtiaites the shell, after the flesh has been digested. The prey can be quite large compared to the size of the fish. A ''C. dentex'' contained a limpet.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13466056, from2=Q3643202 Gobiesocidae Taxa named by Charles N. F. Brisout Monotypic ray-finned fish genera