Rendahl's messmate (''Echiodon rendahli'') is a

pearlfish Pearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to , along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Carapidae Pearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to , along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no sca ...

, found in the southwest

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 ...

Ocean around Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at depths to . Its length is between .The larvae has a long filament on its head which bears some resemblance to a

siphonophore Siphonophorae (from Greek ''siphōn'' 'tube' + ''pherein'' 'to bear') is an order within Hydrozoa, which is a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 specie ...

. These fish live within

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

s. The specific name honours the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

naturalist and artist

Hialmar Rendahl Carl Hialmar Rendahl (born Jönköping 26 December 1891; died Stockholm 2 May 1969) was a Swedish zoologist, cartoonist and painter. He is most famous in Sweden for his authorship of ''Fågelboken'', the "bird book" which sold 60,000 copies. Ren ...

who collected the specimens in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

which were used by

Gilbert Percy Whitley Gilbert Percy Whitley (9 June 1903 – 18 July 1975) was a British-born Australian ichthyologist and malacologist who was Curator of Fishes at the Australian Museum in Sydney for about 40 years. He was born at Swaythling, Southampton, England ...

to describe this species. left, 200px, Juvenile ''Echiodon rendahli''
Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling

References

Carapidae Marine fish of Southern Australia Marine fish of New Zealand Rendahl's messmate {{Ophidiiformes-stub