Silver roughy
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| Hoplostethus mediterraneus trunovi Kotylar, 1986 |
The silver roughy, Hoplostethus mediterraneus trunovi, is a small deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family (Trachichthyidae) found in cold (3–9 °C), deep (800–900 m) waters of the western Indian Ocean.
Like other slimeheads, the silver roughy is slow-growing and late to mature, resulting in a very low resilience. They are extremely susceptible to overfishing because of this.
The body is very deep and the rounded head is riddled with muciferous canals (part of the lateral line system), as is typical of slimeheads. The single dorsal fin contains 6 spines and 13 soft rays; the anal fin contains 3 spines and 9 soft rays. There are ventral scutes, modified scales, forming a hard, bony median ridge between the pelvic fins and anus. The pelvic fins are thoracic and contain one spine and six soft rays; the caudal fin is forked with rounded lobes. The eyes are large.
They have large gill rakers, designed to prevent the escape of planktonic animals that make up their normal diet from escaping through the gills.
Coloration is silver with a rosy-pink tinge on the back and black-edged pink fins.
[edit] References
- "Hoplostethus mediterraneus trunovi". 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
