''Albatrossia pectoralis'', the giant grenadier or giant rattail, is a very large
rattail
Grenadiers or rattails are generally large, brown to black gadiform marine fish of the subfamily Macrourinae, the largest subfamily of the family Macrouridae. Found at great depths from the Arctic to Antarctic, members of this subfamily are am ...
, and the
only member of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Albatrossia''. It is found in the north
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
from northern
Japan to the
Okhotsk
Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population:
...
and
Bering Seas, east to the
Gulf of Alaska
The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...
, and south to northern
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It is found at depths between 140 and 3,500 m. It can grow up to 2.1 m in length. The giant grenadier has the usual greatly elongated, pointed tail of the rattails.
Ecology
Giant grenadiers are
apex predator
An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own.
Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic lev ...
s on the upper continental slopes of the northern Pacific. Their main prey are ''
Octopoteuthis deletron'' squid and ''
Vampyroteuthis infernalis
The vampire squid (''Vampyroteuthis infernalis'', lit. 'vampire squid from hell') is a small cephalopod found throughout temperate and tropical oceans in extreme deep sea conditions. The vampire squid uses its bioluminescent organs and its uni ...
'' vampire squid.
Shape
Giant grenadier have two shapes that have been observed to date, and there is a third shape that seems to be a mixture of the two distinct shapes. They are one of the most abundant species in the northern part of Pacific Ocean.
Because of their great abundance, several attempts have been made to develop a fishery for giant grenadier. However, the fish is categorized as “unpalatable” because of its soft texture, high moisture content, and low protein content.
References
External links
More info about the Giant Grenadier(Wayback Machine archive of site)
Macrouridae
Fish described in 1892
Monotypic ray-finned fish genera
{{Gadiformes-stub