Pink cusk-eel
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| Genypterus blacodes (Forster, 1801) |
The pink cusk-eel, Genypterus blacodes, is a cusk eel of the genus Genypterus, found in southern Australia, Chile, Brazil, South Africa and around New Zealand except the east coast of Northland, in depths of a few metres to 1000 metres. Their length is between 80 and 200 centimetres, and they live for up to 30 years.
Other names in English include ling, Australian rockling, kingclip, pink ling, and northern ling.
The pink cusk-eel is a robust eel-like fish with bluntly pointed snout, large opaque eys, and an undershot lower jaw. The slender pelvic fins are set well forward beneath the lower jaw where they may be mistaken for barbels. Their teeth are sharp and conical, in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth.
The colour is a sickly orange-pink, turning pink ventrally, and there are irregular patches of brown on the back. The whole is covered with a thick covering of slimy mucus.
Pink cusk-eel are caught commercially on long-lines in deep water, the flesh being firm and tasty.
[edit] References
- Genypterus blacodes (TSN 165000). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 19 March 2006.
- "Genypterus blacodes". 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 978-0-00-216987-5
