Answers.com

needlefish

 
Dictionary: nee·dle·fish   (nēd'l-fĭsh') pronunciation
 
n., pl. needlefish or -fish·es.
  1. Any of several marine fishes of the family Belonidae, having slender bodies, needlelike teeth, and narrow jaws.
  2. Any of various other fishes, such as the pipefish, having projecting jaws.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics
 

Any of about 60 species (family Belonidae) of primarily marine, edible, carnivorous fishes found throughout temperate and tropical waters. Needlefish are adept jumpers and have a long, slender jaw with sharp teeth. They are long, slim, and silvery, with a blue or green back. The largest species grows to 4 ft (1.2 m) long. The garfish (Belone belone) occurs in Europe, and the houndfish (Tylosurus crocodilus) is found everywhere in the tropics.

For more information on needlefish, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: needlefish
Top
needlefish, common name for members of the family Belonidae, which comprises 50 species of elongated, surface-swimming predaceous fish abundant in warm seas. They have beaklike jaws armed with sharp teeth, giving them a superficial resemblance to the gar; some needlefishes reach a length of 6 ft (1.8 m). The saltwater garfish, Strongylura longirostris, may be 4 ft (1.2 m) long but is usually smaller; it is found in Atlantic coastal waters and estuaries. Garfishes resemble twigs and are often mistaken for them when lying motionless at the surface of the water. They swim in small schools and occasionally leap clear of the water in their pursuit of smaller fish. The flesh is palatable, although the greenish bones make it repellent to some. Other species include the billfish and the houndfish, or agujon, an important food fish of Puerto Rico. The closely related halfbeaks, or balaos, family Hemiramphidae, smaller than needlefishes and with only the lower jaw extended, are a herbivorous family linking the needlefishes and the flying fish. Needlefishes are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Beloniformes, family Belonidae.


 
Wikipedia: Needlefish
Top
Needlefish
Tylosurus crocodilus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Beloniformes
Family: Belonidae

Genera

Platybelone
Potamorrhaphis
Pseudotylosurus
Stenocaulis
Strongylura
Thalassosteus
Tylosurus
Xenentodon

Needlefish (family Belonidae) are piscivorous fishes primarily associated with very shallow marine habitats or the surface of the open sea. Some genera include species found in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments (e.g., Strongylura) while a few genera are confined to freshwater rivers and streams, including Belonion, Potamorrhaphis, and Xenentodon. [1] Needlefish closely resemble North American freshwater gars (family Lepisosteidae) in being elongate and having long, narrow jaws filled with sharp teeth, and some species of needlefish are referred to as gars or garfish despite being only distantly related to the true gars. In fact the name "garfish" was originally used for the needlefish Belone belone in Europe and only later applied to the North American fishes by European settlers during the 18th century.[2]

Contents

Description

A Needlefish is being cleaned by Rainbow cleaner Wrasses,Labroides phthirophagus

Needlefish are slender fish, ranging from 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 95 centimetres (37 in) in length. They have a single dorsal fin, placed far back on the body, almost opposite to the anal fin. Their most distinctive feature is their long narrow beak, which bears multiple sharp teeth. In most species, the upper jaw only reaches its full length in adulthood, so that the juveniles have a half-beak appearance, with an elongate lower jaw, but a much smaller upper one. During this stage of their life cycle, they eat plankton, switching to fish once the beak fully develops.[3]

Ecology

All needlefish feed primarily on smaller fishes, which they catch with a sideways sweep of the head. In addition some species will also take plankton, swimming crustaceans, and small cephalopods. Freshwater species are also predatory, with the Asian species at least feeding exclusively on small crustaceans. [4]

Needlefish are most common in the tropics but some inhabit temperate waters as well, particularly during the summer months. Belone belone is a common North Atlantic species that often swims in schools alongside mackerel

Classification

Needlefishes are members of the Beloniformes and close relatives of the flyingfishes, halfbeaks, and sauries. [5] The family contains 34 species, grouped into 10 genera[6]:

Family Belonidae

  • Genus Ablennes
  • Genus Belone
  • Genus Belonion
    • Belonion apodion
    • Belonion dibranchodon
  • Genus Petalichthys
    • Petalichthys capensis - Cape needlefish
  • Genus Platybelone
  • Genus Potamorrhaphis
    • Potamorrhaphis eigenmanni
    • Potamorrhaphis guianensis
    • Potamorrhaphis petersi
  • Genus Pseudotylosaurus
    • Pseudotylosurus angusticeps
    • Pseudotylosurus microps
  • Genus Strongylura
    • Strongylura anastomella
    • Strongylura exilis - Californian needlefish
    • Strongylura fluviatilis
    • Strongylura hubbsi - Maya needlefish
    • Strongylura incisa - Reef needlefish
    • Strongylura krefftii - Long tom
    • Strongylura leiura - Banded needlefish
    • Strongylura marina - Atlantic needlefish
    • Strongylura notata - Redfin needlefish
    • Strongylura scapularis - Shoulderspot needlefish
    • Strongylura senegalensis - Senegal needlefish
    • Strongylura strongylura - Spottail needlefish
    • Strongylura timucu - Timucu
    • Strongylura urvillii - Urville's longtom
  • Genus Tylosurus
    • Tylosurus acus - Agujon needlefish
    • Tylosurus choram - Red Sea houndfish
    • Tylosurus crocodilus
    • Tylosurus gavialoides - Stout longtom
    • Tylosurus pacificus - Pacific agujon needlefish
    • Tylosurus punctulatus - Spotted long-tom
  • Genus Xenentodon

In the aquarium

Some species of needlefish inhabit brackish and freshwater environments, and one of the freshwater species, Xenentodon cancila from South East Asia, is occasionally kept as an aquarium fish. It is a relatively small species, no more than 30 to 40 cm in length when fully grown, but is considered to be a rather delicate fish best suited to advanced aquarists.[7]

References

  1. ^ Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors.. 207 "Family Belonidae - Needlefishes". FishBase. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/FamilySummary.cfm?ID= 207. Retrieved on 2006-11-29. 
  2. ^ Douglas Harper. "Online Etymological Dictionary". Online Etymological Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gar. Retrieved on 2006-11-29. 
  3. ^ Collette, B.B. & Parin, N.V. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-12-547665-5. 
  4. ^ Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors.. "Species Summary for Xenentodon cancila ". FishBase. http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=10124. Retrieved on 2006-11-29. 
  5. ^ Helfman G., Collette B., & Facey D.: The Diversity of Death
  6. ^ "Belonidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. November 2008 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2008.
  7. ^ Monks N: Straight to the point: the Beloniformes. Practical Fishkeeping, October 2005

External links


 
Translations: Needlefish
Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - nålefisk, Syngnathidæ

Nederlands (Dutch)
naaldvis, zeenaald, geep

Français (French)
n. - aiguille, poisson-aiguille

Deutsch (German)
n. - Seenadel, Hornhecht

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ιχθυολ.) βελόνη, ζαργάνα

Italiano (Italian)
aguglia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - peixe-agulha (m)

Русский (Russian)
рыба-игла

Español (Spanish)
n. - pez aguja, lofobranquio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - näbbgäddfiskar

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
颌针鱼

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 頜針魚

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 동갈치

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 細長い魚

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) السمك الابري‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חניתן (דג)‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Needlefish" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more