Samoan sand dart

Kraemeria samoensis

FAMILY

Kraemeriidae

TAXONOMY

Kraemeria samoensis Steindachner, 1906, Samoan Islands.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Sand dart; Afrikaans: sandspies.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Small, elongate fish, reaches 1.4 in (3.5 cm) total length. Lacks scales. Head with minute eyes, and a "chinlike" forward projection of the lower jaw. Six or seven small flaps project from the lower edge of the preoperculum, just behind the mouth, and five or six flaps project from the lower edge of the operculum covering the gills. There is a single, long, dorsal fin, and a long anal fin. Specimens from the Indian Ocean have fewer opercular flaps than those from the Pacific, and might represent a different species.

DISTRIBUTION

The Indo-Pacific region, from East Africa to the Society Islands.

HABITAT

Buries into loose coral sand in inshore areas where there is strong wave action.

BEHAVIOR

Nothing known.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feeds on polychaetes.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Nothing known.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.