Louvar

Diana Fish ( Luvarus imperialis )

The Diana Fish ( Luvarus imperialis ) or tap fish is the only species in the family Luvaridae. The systematic position of the strange fish has long been controversial. They were formerly also counted among the mackerel fish ( Scombridae ). Today we see that the British ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan has suggested a hundred years ago to right: The nearest relative is Zanclus cornutus.

Features

The golden or silvery pink animals are 1.8 meters in length and over 100 kilograms. The unpaired fins are pale red. In "adult" animals the head is distended front. The fish feed on gelatinous, planktonic animals such as jellyfish and salps.

Fins formula: dorsal 20, anal 22

Dissemination

Diana live fish widely distributed in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean and the western Mediterranean. North they go in the Atlantic to Bergen in Norway. In the south they occur in New Zealand, South Africa and Chile.

Reproduction

Diana fish lay very many eggs in a 1.7 meter specimen was found 47.5 million. The larvae are initially transparent. Dorsal and anal fins are very long. The larval stage is called Hystricinellea. From a length of 2.5 centimeters, they transform into the next stage Astrodermella called, which was formerly regarded as a separate species Astrodesmus elegans. With a length of 40 centimeters, they move to the last stage called Luvarella. Only with a length of one meter they get the look of the adult animals, the fins are shorter.

Others

In Spain, the Diana Fish is a very well known food fish ( emperador ), but only comes in fillets on the market: the fishmonger get very rarely a complete copy. The taste is excellent.