1. Goliath Tigerfish
The scientific name is translated literally as water dog (hydrocynus) striped (vittatus).
It has vivid colouration, large protruding teeth, short dorsal, small adipose fin and lateral stripes along the body - this clearly distinguishes it from other species.
The scales along the lateral line are large and number 43-48 with 15-16 around the caudal peduncle. The dorsal fin has two unbranched and 8-9 branched rays and the anal 3 and 10-13 respectively. The jaws show a series of replacement teeth in the tooth sockets which replace teeth that are lost or broken.
The fish is colourful and ranges from light to dark shades - the lighter fish are normally taken over sandy substrate.
This variety of tiger fish is the second largest in Africa. The female attains a larger size than the male.
The major factor in distribution in a river system appears to be water depth. This fish is seldom seen in small tributaries and never encountered near the headwaters of rivers. It is an open water predator and often found near the water surface - this possibly accounts for the fact that it is one of the principal prey species of the Fish Eagle.
2. Frilled Shark
The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is a primitive shark species, of the family Chlamydoselachidae in the order Hexanchiformes. The Southern African frilled shark is a proposed new species from the Southern African range. These two species are very different from the other hexanchiform sharks, and it has recently been proposed that the two frilled sharks should be given their own order: Chlamydoselachiformes. Additional extinct types are known from fossil teeth; thought to be extinct itself, it was only discovered in Japanese waters in the 19th century. On January 21, 2007 a specimen was found alive off the coast of Japan near the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, southwest of Tokyo. The shark was captured but, being in poor health, died shortly afterwards
3. Blob Fish or Blob Sculpin
The Blob Sculpin is a species of deep-sea fish of the Psychrolutidae family.
4. Wolf Fish
Rattails are a large black or brown shark found in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. They live at depths up to 6000 meters and some species live 56 years or more.
*People eat this*
5. Rattails or Grenadiers
Fishes of the Family Macrouridae, Order Gadiformes (cods).
6. Lamprey
A lamprey (sometimes also called lamprey eel) is a jawless fish with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. While lampreys are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood, these species make up the minority. In zoology, lampreys are often not considered to be true fish because of their vastly different morphology and physiology.
7. Basking Shark
The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan species - it is found in all the world’s temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder.
Like other large sharks, basking sharks are at risk of extinction due to a combination of low resilience and overfishing to supply the worldwide market for the shark’s fins, flesh and organs.
8. Goblin Shark
The Japanese fishermen who caught the first specimen of Mitsukurina in the “Black Current” off Yokohama called it tenguzame, which means “goblin shark.” This has become its common name, although very few people besides ichthyologists and shark-book authors ever get a chance to use it. The shark is extremely rare, found only in deep water off Japan, South Africa, perhaps off Portugal, and, in one strange instance, in the Indian Ocean, cable malfunction necessitated the raising of the cable, and an awl-like shark’s tooth was found embedded in the wire covering. The cable had been at 750 fathoms, and the tooth belonged to a goblin shark.
9. NO Name
We don’t know what this is but it is nasty and it looks like it’s skin was peeled off.
10. Different Type of Grenadier
hese fish are found at the benthopelagic level, in the bathyal zones. Scientists have discovered that this type of fish has high levels of a chemical called TMAO in its body. All ocean creatures have this chemical in their systems. Its presence helps to maintain hydration levels of the body tissues while living in all that salt water. Otherwise, water would move from areas of low salinity (the fish’s body) to areas of high salinity (the surrounding ocean water). Without this chemical fish would be dehydrated by the surrounding ocean water. TMAO, and its breakdown product TMA, are the chemicals that make marine animals smell fishy.
The shark is thought to have been feeding on some sort of animal life growing on the cable at that depth, but very little else is known of its feeding habits. Its awl-like teeth and protrusible jaws seem to indicate that it is a fish eater, but this is only a supposition. (It probably needs protrusible jaws to feed at all, given the nature of its forehead appendage. This seems a self-handicapping situation, so perhaps the protrusion serves some other, less problematical function.) The first known tenguzame was a 3.5-foot male, but subsequent specimens have been as long as 14 feet.
This seems to me the strangest of all the sharks. It looks like some kind of prehistoric survivor, an experiment in shark design that doesn’t seem to work. And yet, by definition, it does work. Triceratops, the dinosaur with three horns, is long gone, as are Pteranodon and hundreds of other “impossible” animals. There is little that can be said about this mysterious shark, because so little is known about it. And yet, we have the most curious, incontrovertible fact of all: Mitsukurina lives.
According to National Geographic Kids: A fourth of the goblin shark’s weight can be its liver. Scientists don’t yet understand why its liver is so big. These sharks have been found as deep as 4,000 feet. This 10-foot-long shark preys on small octopuses and fish. It has rarely even been seen by people. The shark’s “nose” is dotted with sensory cells. Scientists think the snout’s main purpose is to help the shark find food in deep, dark waters.
Tags: bizarre, disgusting, fish, fishes, top10
February 14th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Those are the most amazing creatures, awesome post.