Porae
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| Porae | ||||||||||||||
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.jpg/180px-Nemadactylus_douglasii_(Porae).jpg) Photo by Ian Skipworth
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| Nemadactylus douglasii (Hector, 1875) |
The porae or blue morwong, Nemadactylus douglasii, is a morwong of the genus Nemadactylus, found around south eastern Australia and the north eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand at depths of about 10 to 100 metres, on sandy and rocky coasts. Its length is between 40 and 70 cm.
The porae is similar in appearance to the snapper but with a more pointed snout with protruding rubbery lips which it uses to suck up sediment containing small invertebrate life. The body colour varies from silver-grey to bright silver-blue, even to a copper tinged blue. The middle pectoral fin ray is greatly elongated to almost 3 times the length of the other rays. These are used to form a tripod when feeding vertically on the bottom.
Porae live in the same general area, forming groups, for long periods and, like other morwongs, are long-lived.
They are caught commercially in a small way and are good eating.
[edit] References
- Nemadactylus douglasii (TSN 645482). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 19 March 2006.
- "Nemadactylus douglasii". 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
