Halosauridae
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Halosauridae
Halosaurs are eel-shaped fishes found only at great ocean depths. As the family Halosauridae, halosaurs are one of two families within the order Notacanthiformes; the other being the deep-sea spiny eels, Notacanthidae. Halosaurs are thought to have a worldwide distribution, with some 17 species in three genera represented. Only a handful of specimens have been observed alive, all in chance encounters with Remotely operated underwater vehicles. The term "halosaur" refers to the type genus, ''Halosaurus'', which is a Greek compound word, ''hals'' meaning "sea" and ''sauros'' meaning "lizard". Halosaurs have a spotty fossil record, the oldest known genus being ''Echidnocephalus'' from the Late Cretaceous strata of Westphalia, Germany, and the second-oldest known genus, ''Laytonia'', from Miocene strata of California and Oregon. The fossil specimens already bear strong resemblance to the modern genera. The halosaurs' greatly elongated bodies end in whip-like tails; their scales ar ...
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Halosauropsis
The abyssal halosaur (''Halosauropsis macrochir'') is a species of bottom-dwelling, deep-sea fish in the family Halosauridae that is found in all oceans at depths of 1100 to 3500 meters. It is the only member of its genus. Abyssal halosaur can reach total length of at least and weight in excess of . Berstad et al. could not sex fish smaller than 25 cm, giving an indication about length at maturation. Abyssal halosaur are long-lived, with maximum reported age of 36 years, although individuals sampled on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were mostly <20 years. It appears to be an opportunistic feeder, mostly taking
epibenthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.
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Abyssal Halosaur
The abyssal halosaur (''Halosauropsis macrochir'') is a species of bottom-dwelling, deep-sea fish in the family Halosauridae that is found in all oceans at depths of 1100 to 3500 meters. It is the only member of its genus. Abyssal halosaur can reach total length of at least and weight in excess of . Berstad et al. could not sex fish smaller than 25 cm, giving an indication about length at maturation. Abyssal halosaur are long-lived, with maximum reported age of 36 years, although individuals sampled on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were mostly <20 years. It appears to be an opportunistic feeder, mostly taking
epibenthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.
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Halosaurus
''Halosaurus'' is a genus of fish in the family Halosauridae. This genus currently contains the following recognized species: * ''Halosaurus attenuatus'' Samuel Garman, Garman, 1899 (Galapagos halosaur) * ''Halosaurus carinicauda'' (Alfred William Alcock, Alcock, 1889) (Andaman halosaur) * ''Halosaurus guentheri'' George Brown Goode, Goode & Tarleton Hoffman Bean, T. H. Bean, 1896 (Guenther's halosaur) * ''Halosaurus johnsonianus'' Léon Vaillant, Vaillant, 1888 (Sahara halosaur) * †''Halosaurus orthensis'' Nolf 2002 * ''Halosaurus ovenii'' James Yate Johnson, J. Y. Johnson, 1864 (Madeira halosaur) * ''Halosaurus pectoralis'' Allan Riverstone McCulloch, McCulloch, 1926 (Goanna fish) * ''Halosaurus radiatus'' Samuel Garman, Garman, 1899 (Albatross halosaur) * ''Halosaurus ridgwayi'' (Henry Weed Fowler, Fowler, 1934) (Ridgeway's halosaur) * ''Halosaurus sinensis'' Tokiharu Abe, T. Abe, 1974 (Chinese halosaur) References

* Halosauridae Deep sea fish Ray-finned fish ...
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Laytonia
''Laytonia'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric halosaur that lived in deep water off the North American Pacific Coast from the Zemorrian Epoch (comprising either the latest Oligocene or lower Miocene) until during the Upper Miocene subepoch, when tectonic uplift effectively destroyed the genus' habitat by making the deep water too shallow.David, Lore Rose. January 10, 1943. Miocene Fishes of Southern California The Society There are two species recognized, the type species, ''L. californica'', which is known from at least 2 whole fossils, and fossil scales from Upper Miocene strata of Southern California, and ''L. zemorrensis'', known from fossil scales in Zemorrian strata (either Oligocene or Lower Miocene) from Oregon and California. According to the fossils of ''L. californica'', the living animals were very slender, and had a long, fringe-like dorsal fin running almost the entire length of the body, from the head to the tip of the tail. The dorsal fin forms two crests, a fi ...
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Notacanthiformes
The Notacanthiformes are an order of deep-sea ray-finned fishes, consisting of the families Halosauridae and Notacanthidae (spiny eels). The order is of relatively recent vintage; ''Fishes of the World'' (2006) lists it as the suborder Notacanthoidei of Albuliformes. The notacanthiforms are much more eel-like than the albuliforms; for instance, the caudal fin has disappeared. Fish of the order are found in oceans worldwide, at depths from . They are elongated fish, although not as much so as the true eels. They typically feed on slow-moving or sessile animals, such as molluscs, echinoderms, and sea anemones. Like the true eels, they have a leptocephalus Leptocephalus (meaning "slim head") is the flat and transparent larva of the eel, marine eels, and other members of the superorder Elopomorpha. This is one of the most diverse groups of teleosts, containing 801 species in 4 orders, 24 families, ... larva that floats in the surface waters before transforming into an adul ...
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Echidnocephalus
''Echidnocephalus troscheli'' is an extinct, prehistoric halosaur. Fossils are found from Campanian strata of Westphalia, Germany. The complete and incomplete fossil specimens that have been found suggest an animal already looking very much like modern halosaurs. See also * ''Laytonia'', a Miocene genus of fossil halosaur * Prehistoric fish * List of prehistoric bony fish References

Late Cretaceous fish Halosauridae Fossils of Germany {{Notacanthiformes-stub ...
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Aldrovandia
''Aldrovandia'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Halosauridae. They occur in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. They can reach in total length. Species This genus currently contains the following recognized species: * '' Aldrovandia affinis'' ( Günther, 1877) (Gilbert's halosaur) * '' Aldrovandia gracilis'' Goode & T. H. Bean, 1896 (gracile halosaur) * '' Aldrovandia mediorostris'' ( Günther, 1887) (Challenger halosaur) * '' Aldrovandia oleosa'' Sulak, 1977 (Bahamas halosaur) * ''Aldrovandia phalacra ''Aldrovandia phalacra'', the Hawaiian halosaurid, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Halosauridae. It is a circumglobal species found at bathyal depths. Description ''Aldrovandia phalacra'' is a long, slim, cylindrical fish growing ...'' ( Vaillant, 1888) (Hawaiian halosaur) * '' Aldrovandia rostrata'' ( Günther, 1878) (rostrate halosaur) References Halosauridae Marine fish genera Ray-finned fish genera Deep sea fish Taxa named ...
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Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ...
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Polychaete
Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class (biology), class of generally marine invertebrate, marine annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm (''Arenicola marina'') and the Alitta virens, sandworm or Alitta succinea, clam worm ''Alitta''. Polychaetes as a class are robust and widespread, with species that live in the coldest ocean temperatures of the abyssal plain, to forms which tolerate the extremely high temperatures near hydrothermal vents. Polychaetes occur throughout the Earth's oceans at all depths, from forms that live as plankton near the surface, to a 2- to 3-cm specimen (still unclassified) observed by the robot ocean probe Nereus (underwater vehicle), ''Nereus'' at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepes ...
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Benthic
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "the depths." Organisms living in this zone are called benthos and include microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi) as well as larger invertebrates, such as crustaceans and polychaetes. Organisms here generally live in close relationship with the substrate and many are permanently attached to the bottom. The benthic boundary layer, which includes the bottom layer of water and the uppermost layer of sediment directly influenced by the overlying water, is an integral part of the benthic zone, as it greatly influences the biological activity that takes place there. Examples of contact soil layers include sand bottoms, rocky outcrops, coral, and bay mud. Description Oceans The benthic region of the ocean begins at the shore line (intertidal ...
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Sea Snake
Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are elapid snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes Australasian terrestrial snakes, whereas Laticaudinae only includes the sea kraits (''Laticauda''), of which three species are found exclusively in freshwater. If these three freshwater species are excluded, there are 69 species of sea snakes divided between seven genera. Most sea snakes are venomous, except the genus ''Emydocephalus'', which feeds almost exclusively on fish eggs. Sea snakes are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to move on land, except for the sea kraits, which have limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and are closely related to venomous terrestrial snakes in Australia. All sea snakes have paddle-like tails and many have laterally compressed bodies that give them an ee ...
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Invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate subphylum Vertebrata. Familiar examples of invertebrates include arthropods, mollusks, annelids, echinoderms and cnidarians. The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxa have a greater number and variety of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 50  μm (0.002 in) rotifers to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid. Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the invertebrates paraphyletic, so the term has little meaning in taxonomy. Etymology The word "invertebrate" comes from the Latin word ''vertebra'', whi ...
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