Banded whiptail
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 Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
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| Caelorinchus fasciatus (Günther, 1878) |
The banded whiptail, Caelorinchus fasciatus, is a rattail of the genus Caelorinchus, found circumpolar in the Great Southern Ocean at depths of between 70 and 1,100 m. Its length is between 25 and 45 cm.
The banded whiptail has the usual greatly elongated pointed tail of the rattails, as well as very large eyes and a short pointed snout. The fins are rounded except the pelvic which has a longer first dorsal fin ray. There is a small chin barbel.
It diet is copepods, polychaetes, benthic molluscs, arthropods, decapods, amphipods, echinoderms and fishes (myctophids and Maurolicus).
The colour is dull grey with a series of darker vertical bars on the back and flanks, and the mouth and gill cavities are grey to black.
[edit] References
- "Caelorinchus fasciatus". 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
