Antarctic butterfish
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 Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
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| Hyperoglyphe antarctica (Carmichael, 1819) |
The Antarctic butterfish or deepsea trevally, Hyperoglyphe antarctica, is a medusafish of the family Centrolophidae found in all the southern oceans, at depths of between 40 and 1,500 m. Its length is up to about 140 cm, with a maximum published weight of 60 kg.
The Antarctic butterfish is similar to the hapuku - it is completely unrelated but the confusion has given rise to another common name, blue-nose grouper, in New Zealand.
The Antarctic butterfish has an abruptly blunt snout, long dorsal and anal fins, and a forked caudal fin. They are blue-black on the back, sometimes with a brownish tinge, and silver-blue flanks and belly. There are a number of small cream coloured dots around the mouth and lower jaw and the eyes are golden with an inner black ring. The mouth is large with a single row of small teeth in each jaw and it is a voracious carnivore, feeding on squid, crabs, lantern fish, and small ling.
[edit] References
- "Hyperoglyphe antarctica". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 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
