The wolf eel (''Anarrhichthys ocellatus'') is a species of marine
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...
belonging to the family
Anarhichadidae
Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes, sea wolves or wolf eels, is a family of marine ray finned fishes belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. These are predatory, eel shaped fishes which are native to the cold waters of the Arctic, North Pacific and ...
, the wolf fishes. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean.
[ Despite its common name and resemblance, it is not a true ]eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
. It is the only species in the monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''Anarrhichthys''.
Taxonomy
The wolf eel was first formally described in 1855 by the American physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and ichthyologist
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...
William Orville Ayres
William Orville Ayres (September 11, 1817 – April 30, 1887) was an American physician and ichthyologist. Born in Connecticut, he studied to become a doctor at Yale University School of Medicine.
Life and career
Ayers, the son of Jared and D ...
with the type locality given as San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Anarrichthys'', which was also described by Ayres in 1855. This is one of two genera in the family Anarhichadidae, the other being ''Anarhichas
''Anarhichas'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes or sea wolves. These fishes are found in the northern North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans.
Taxonomy
''Anarhichas'' was first propos ...
''.
Etymology
The Wolf eel’s genus name ''Anarrhichthys'' combines the wolffish genus ''Anarhichas'', as this taxon has a similar head shape to the wolffishes, and ''ichthys'', which means “fish”. The specific name ''ocellatus'' means “ocellated”, a reference to the eye like spots, or ocelli, on the dorsal fin and body.
Description
''A. ocellatus'' differs from true eels, as they have paired gill slits and pectoral fins. The animal can grow up to in length and in weight.[
Younger wolf eels are orange with big dark spots in the posterior part of the body. Once older they turn grey, brown greyish or dark olive.]
They possess powerful jaws with which they crush their prey: canine teeth
In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...
in the front and molars
The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...
in the posterior portion of the mouth. In the anal fin, it has no rays and 233 radials. It only has one dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
, that extends from the head to the end of the body, with 228 to 250 flexible fishbones without soft radius. The caudal fin is small. It has no pelvic fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods.
Structure and function Structure
In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...
s, nor a lateral line
The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...
.
Males have large lips and a protuberance on the superior part of the head. The lifespan of this species is about 20 years.
Reproduction
They have a monogamous relationship and tend to mate for life and live in the same cave. They reproduce from October until the end of winter starting from when they are around seven years old. The male puts his head against the female's abdomen and wraps around her, while she extrudes the eggs (she can lay up to 10,000 at a time) which he then fertilizes. Later, they coil around them and use her body to shape the eggs into a neat sphere roughly the size of a grapefruit, the male then coils around her to add an extra layer of protection. They both equally protect their eggs and only one at a time leaves the cave to feed.[ The eggs will hatch after 91 to 112 days and during this period, in order to ensure correct circulation of water around the eggs to keep them supplied with oxygen, the female periodically massages and rotates them as they develop.]
Ecology
Distribution
''A. ocellatus'' is found in caves, crevices and rocky reefs from shallow waters to a depth of , ranging from the Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
and the Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
to Northern California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.[
]
Behavior
Large wolf eels are curious and are rarely aggressive, but are capable of inflicting painful bites on humans.[
The male and female may pair for life and inhabit a cave together; the two watch their eggs together and one always stays behind when the other leaves to feed.][Sempier, S. (2003). Marine Species with Aquaculture Potential.]
Diet
This eel-like fish feeds on 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 ...
s with hard shells (crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s, sea urchin
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
s, mussels, clams) and some fishes, crushing them with its strong jaws. It has been observed in captivity that when they are fed soft food such as squid, they tend to prefer it over hard food, which can damage the back teeth.
Predators
The adult's predators are sharks, big fish and harbor seal
The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...
s. The eggs and juveniles can be threatened by more species, as they are not very large and do not have powerful jaws—many fish such as rockfish
Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks.
The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...
and kelp greenling
The kelp greenling (''Hexagrammos decagrammus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Hexagrammidae, the greenlings. It occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean
Species description and etymology
The kelp greenling was fir ...
will go after them.
As food
The wolf eel has edible, sweet and savory white flesh. In some coastal northwest Native American tribes, the wolf eel was referred to as the sacred "doctorfish". Only the tribal healers were allowed to eat this fish, as it was supposed to enhance their healing powers.[
]
References
External links
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Anarhichadidae
Monotypic fish genera
Fish described in 1855
Seafood in Native American cuisine