Friday, December 18, 2009

Wolf Fish


Photo from stumbleupon.com

Fangs like a wolf and fevor like a furious predator. Wolf fish, scientifically named as Hoplias malabaricus is a ferocious fish predator that inhabits the benthopelagic part of flowing rivers and streams. It tolerates wide range of turbidity from clear flowing water to slow moving turbid streams.


Photo from fishbase.org

This fishes are distributed in the South and Central America along the river basins of Costa Rica to Argentina. Usually feed on insect larvae, crustaceans, shrimps, and small invertebrates. It usually grows with a maximum recorded lenght of 52 centimeters and has potential harm to human because of it's sharp teeth and strong jaws.
Reproduction is achieve by building nests in the shallow areas of the river with a favorable temperature of 26°C. Males are usually slimmer than females. Culture of wild fish upon captivity is very difficult because of very aggressive behaviour. They undergo hibernation process during winter and can live in land for few time because of additional breathing organ.


References:

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=4757&genusname=Hoplias&speciesname=malabaricus&lang=English

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2pON84/eamazings.com/index.php/eamazings/wolf-fish-14122009.html

Clown Fish


Photo from fishbase.org

This is not on the carnival nor you can find this on any park and amusement center, this fish lives in the sea. Scientifically known as Amphiprion percula, orange clown fish is an avid inhabitant of coral reefs. Together with other family related clownfish, this fish species is classified to be a plankton and algae feeder.
This fish inhabits the lagoons and seawards reefs, often stays in groups with 0-4 members. The largest member of the group is the female, second largest is the male, and least in sizes are the non-breeders. Orange Clownfish is a protandrous hermaphrodite , when the female dies, the male becomes female and the non-breeder member becomes male.
Orange Clown fish is distributed in the Western Pacific: Queensland and Melanesia including northern Great Barrier Reef, northern New Guinea, New Britain, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. There were sightings in the New Celadonia and Fiji Islands, although Fowler (1959) confirmed it in the latter area.
This fish grows up to 8 centimeters, often characterized by dominant orange color, three white bars on the body, and black markings on the fins. It is very similar to False-Clown Anemonefish, scientifically known as Amphiprion ocellaris

Sources:

* http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=9209

* http://australianmuseum.net.au/Clown-Anemonefish-Amphiprion-percula-Lacepede-1802