Slender roughy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Slender roughy | ||||||||||||||
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.jpg/180px-Optivus_elongatus_(Slender_roughy).jpg) Photo by Ian Skipworth
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| Optivus elongatus (Günther, 1859) |
The slender roughy, Optivus elongatus, is a small slimehead of the family (Trachichthyidae), the only member of the genus Optivus, found in the western Pacific Ocean from Australia including Lord Howe Island, and New Zealand including the Kermadec Islands, at depths of between 1 and 100 m. Its length is up to about 10 cm.
The slender roughy is nocturnally active, inhabiting cracks and crevices during the day. It feeds on small mobile benthic organisms by drifting up to its prey and swallowing it whole with a sideways snap of the large extensible mouth.
Coloration is pink-brown with a distinctive whitish stripe along the dorsal surface, and pink-tinged whitish fins, with a thin red stripe along each caudal fin lobe.
[edit] References
- "Optivus elongatus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 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
