Golden weedfish
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| Golden weedfish | ||||||||||||||
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| Cristiceps aurantiacus Castelnau, 1879 |
The golden weedfish, Cristiceps aurantiacus, is a weedfish of the genus Cristiceps, found around New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand in rock pools and from low water to depths of about 30 m, 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, and in this respect is similar to the New Zealand topknot. Its length is between 8 and 25 cm. The high first dorsal fin is very far forward starting directly above the eyes. The second dorsal fin is separated from the first, and the caudal peduncle is long and thin ending in a small fan-like tail.
The colouration is a uniform orange-brown with a dark brown vertical bar through the eyes and a few small dark brown dots on the body.
Crested weedfish live exclusively amongst kelp fronds, especially Ecklonia radiata. They are perfectly adapted to live in this environment being extremely difficult to spot. They tend to "walk" rather than swim, using their long narrow pelvic fins and fan-like pectoral fins. When moving from one patch of kelp to another they "roll" along the bottom mimicking a piece of kelp being swept along by a wave surge.
Like all other members of the family crested weedfish are live bearers. Their food is small kelp-living crustaceans and newly settled larval fish.
[edit] References
- Cristiceps aurantiacus (TSN 171516). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 11 March 2006.
- "Cristiceps aurantiacus". 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
