The snub-nosed spiny eel (''Notacanthus chemnitzii'') is a member of the family
Notacanthidae, the deep-sea spiny eels, which are not true eels (
Anguilliformes
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...
). The snub-nosed spiny eel exists in waters all over the world, except in the tropics,
[Fishbase.org. 2005.]
Notacanthus chemnitzii Bloch, 1788
Retrieved on April 14, 2007. ranging in color from light tan to bluish grey in small ones to dark brown in large ones.
Its primary food is
sea anemone
Sea anemones ( ) are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemone ...
s.
The eel usually lives in deep waters, mostly more than 200 m below the surface.
Female snub-nosed spiny eels reach maturity around 18 years old, and are larger than 55 cm in length at maturity. Males reach maturity around 14 years and are larger than 66 cm in length.
Morphology
The snub-nosed spiny eel has 19-37
premaxillary
The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals has ...
teeth on each side.
They have multiple rows of
palatine
A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times. and
dentary
In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla).
The jawbone ...
teeth.
Snub-nosed spiny eels have eyes that are approximately half the length of their snout.
Their dorsal fins have 8-12 spines, and their anal fins have 20-21 spines.
Distribution and habitat
The snub-nosed spiny eel can be found at a depth of 125 to 3285 m below the surface.
The snub-nosed spiny eel is found in the
subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...
Atlantic, around Iceland, Greenland, Norway, and Eastern Canada.
The most northern record of the snub-nosed spiny eel was in the northeast Atlantic off Bjørnsund, Norway.
The snub-nosed spiny eel has been found in waters of Russia near the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Barents Sea.
It is a rare species in many regions. Spawning fishes can be found in the northwestern Atlantic from October until March.
References
Notacanthidae
Fish described in 1788
{{Notacanthiformes-stub