The deepwater grenadier (''Coryphaenoides profundicolus'') is a species of deep-sea fish in the family Macrouridae.

Description

The deepwater grenadier is very large for its genus, measuring up to and . Olfaction and taste are important senses for finding prey, which is unsurprising as it lives in the near-total darkness of the deep sea. It has a

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...

, showing that it is a mobile forager.

Habitat

The deepwater grenadier lives in the Atlantic Ocean, off the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

and

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, and in the Great Australian Bight; it lives at depths of up to . The specific name is from Latin ''profundus'' ("deep") and the suffix -''colus'' ("inhabitant"); -''colus'', -''colum'' is not considered to be correct Latin but is still used in several species names. Otolith studies have shown that the deepwater grenadier lives at a variety of temperatures during its life.

Behaviour

It is parasitised by ''Lepidapedon zubchenkoi'' and ''Steringophorus thulini'', both trematode worms of the order Plagiorchiida.

References

Macrouridae Fish described in 1957 Taxa named by Orvar Nybelin {{Rayfinned-fish-stub