The false boarfish (''Neocyttus helgae'') is a species of fish in the family

Oreosomatidae Oreosomatidae, the oreos, are a family of marine fish. Most species are found in the Southern Hemisphere, inhabiting continental slopes down to about deep. Most of then are 43 cm at most, with the largest species reaching a length of 60&nbs ...

(oreos).

Description

The false boarfish is dark grey in colour, with a maximum length of . It has 6–7 dorsal spines, 34–35 dorsal

soft ray Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fish. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology co ...

s, 3–4 anal spines and 31–32 anal soft rays. It is diamond-shaped, with a protruding small mouth and large spiny rays present at the anterior edges of the fins.

Habitat

''Neocyttus helgae'' is bathypelagic, living at depths of in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, being found off Madeira and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and in the

Cantabrian Sea The Cantabrian Sea; french: Mer Cantabrique, gl, Mar Cantábrico, ast, Mar Cantábricu, eu, Kantauri. is the term used mostly in Spain to describe the coastal sea of the Atlantic Ocean that borders the northern coast of Spain and the southwe ...

Behaviour

The false boarfish feeds off

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

and raises its dorsal spine as a territorial display. It feeds near to ''

Paragorgia ''Paragorgia'' is a genus of soft coral in the family Paragorgiidae Paragorgiidae is a family of corals, a member of the phylum Cnidaria. Genera Genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of ...

'' coral.

References

Oreosomatidae Fish described in 1908 Taxa named by Ernest William Lyons Holt {{Rayfinned-fish-stub