Pholidichthys leucotaenia

White Stripes Aalgrundel ( Pholidichthys leucotaenia )

The White Stripes Aalgrundel ( Pholidichthys leucotaenia ) is a marine fish which is found in the western Pacific in the southwestern islands of the Philippines, Sulawesi, to the Solomon Islands, very hidden in coral reefs down to 20 meters depth. The scientific name refers to the similarity (but not necessarily relatives) with Pholis from the family of Pomfret; leucotaenia (Greek ) means " white strip " and refers to the color of the young fish.

Features

The White Stripes Aalgrundel has an eel-like elongated, scaleless body. The dorsal fin has 72-79 soft rays, the anal fin 54 to 62, both have grown together with the rounded tail fin to form a continuous Flossensaum. The pectoral fins have 15 fin rays. The small pelvic fins sit forward under the pectoral fins and have a hard fin ray and two to three soft. In rare cases, they may be absent. Adult fish are black with pale yellow, sinuous horizontal stripes. Juveniles look completely different and show at a blue-black color, on each side of the body each have a light blue and white stripes. The juveniles are similar as those of provided with poisonous spines Striped coral catfish, which they imitate outside the parental cave also in their behavior, a case of Bates'sche mimicry.

With a length of about four inches they turn around and get the bright yellow, vertical rings around the body. White Stripes Aalgrundeln 20 to 40 centimeters in nature up to 57 inches long in the aquarium.

White Stripes Aalgrundeln leave their hiding place does not lie on the ground up as gobies, but swim with anguilliformen ( winding ) movements around freely, the foremost body quarter but is stiff straight.

Reproduction

The propagation of the White Stripes Aalgrundel is known offspring in marine aquariums. They spawn hidden in their caves and take care after hatching four to five weeks for the fry, once and for coral fish almost unique behavior. So far, except for them, only when not closely related Swallowtail Damselfish ( Acanthochromis polyacanthus ) it has been observed.

A clutch consists of 80 to 500 relatively large eggs. After hatching, the larvae by sticking to the cave wall. For this purpose, they carry on the head, between the eyes four glands that secrete a sticky secretion. After three days they can already swim well. When the yolk sac is completely depleted, with an age 15-22 days, the young fish leave the cave during the day and swim out to feed. A parent driven initially unfamiliar fish that reside in the cave area, then pulling back partially into the shelter back and the young fish swim past him into the open. A trip takes only 11 to 16 minutes, then the boys pull back into the cave, possibly after a signal of parents who withdraw shortly before completely into the cave. Can a few minutes or even hours elapse between the excursions of juveniles, a period that is likely dictated by hunger. Come strange fish near the cave entrance ask the parents their bevy of young fish by significant training and Einschlängeln to flee to the shelter on. After five to seven days, the juveniles no longer respond to these signals and the parents take the young fish into the mouth of a maximum of seven at a time, to return it.

In nature observations they saw groups of young fish in the catch plankton in the open water, who returned to the lair of the parents at the end of the day. After about six weeks, the fry are then about 2 cm long, void of parental care instinct of the parents and it can happen that they eat some juveniles who are still in the cave area.

System

Besides Pholidichthys leucotaenia the family Pholidichthyidae contains a second, hitherto largely unexplored Type: Pholidichthys anguis ( Springer & Larson ) was founded in 1989 caught with a trawl from a depth of 19-70 meters. She lives exclusively in the coastal waters of Australia's Northern Territory on muddy and sandy ground.