Sloane's viperfish
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Sloane's viperfish (Chauliodus sloani) is a dragonfish of the genus Chauliodus, found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, at depths down to 2,500 metres. Their length is between 20 and 35 centimetres.
Sloane's viperfish is an elongate fish with a body that tapers from its bulbous blunt head to its tail. It has a large mouth, long fang-like teeth the longest being almost half the length of the head itself, and the second ray of the first dorsal fin can be up to half its body length. This ray has a luminous tip and is used as a lure. The second dorsal fin, and a ventral fin, are adipose.
They are silvery blue-green in colour with five rows of hexagonal pigmented areas on both sides of the body, each covered with a thin scale. There are photophores around the eyes and on the head, at the bases of the lower fin rays, two small photophores under each scale, and two rows of large light organs along the lower part of the body.
At night it swims up into shallower depths of less than 600 metres where food is more plentiful. Sloane's viperfish feed on small fish, seemingly preferring pearlsides (Maurolicus muelleri).
References
- [Chauliodus sloani (TSN 162281)]. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 18 April 2006.
- "[Chauliodus sloani]." FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
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