| Giant grenadier | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Gadiformes |
| Family: | Macrouridae |
| Genus: | Albatrossia |
| Species: | A. pectoralis |
| Binomial name | |
| Albatrossia pectoralis Richardson, 1846 |
|
The giant grenadier, Albatrossia pectoralis , is a very large rattail, the only member of the genus Albatrossia, found in the north Pacific from northern Japan to the Okhotsk and Bering seas, east to the Gulf of Alaska, and south to northern Baja California in Mexico, at depths of between 140 and 3,500 m. Its length is up to 2.1 m. The giant grenadier has the usual greatly elongated pointed tail of the rattails.
Giant grenadiers are apex predators on the upper continental slopes of the northern Pacific. Their main prey items are Octopoteuthis deletron squid and Vampyroteuthis infernalis vampire squid.[1]