New Zealand topknot
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| Notoclinus fenestratus (Forster, 1801) |
The New Zealand topknot, Notoclinus fenestratus, is a triplefin of the genus Notoclinus, found around the North Island of New Zealand in rock pools and from low water to depths of about 5 metres, in reef areas of broken rock and brown seaweed. It is not often seen but is far more common than thought due to its superb camouflage. Its length is between 4 and 10 centimetres, and it is most unusual among the triplefins in having a laterally compressed body with a high first dorsal fin which gives it its name.
The colouring of the New Zealand topknot is variable but is usually red-brown with a series of darker brown oblique stripes and some mottling of green, orange, and brown. All the fins have transparent patches alternating with bars of red-brown.
They live amongst the swaying fronds of brown kelp. When they move between kelp patches they mimic the movement of a detached leaf of kelp by swimming vertically using only their pectoral fins.
Their food is small kelp-living crustaceans, especially amphipods and isopods.
[edit] References
- Notoclinus fenestratus (TSN 171524). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 11 March 2006.
- "Notoclinus fenestratus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. November 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
- 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
