Carapidae
Sign in to savePearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to , along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no scales, translucent bodies, and dorsal fin rays which are shorter than their anal fin rays. Adults of most species live symbiotically inside various invertebrate hosts, and some live parasitically inside sea cucumbers. The larvae are free living.
Species
pearlfishes
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassTeleostei
- OrderOphidiiformes
- FamilyCarapidae
Habitatmarine
via GBIF
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Ophidiiformes
- Image
- Echiodon rendahli (no common name).gif
Show 2 more facts
- P105
- family
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Ecology
- Genera
- References
Pearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to , along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no scales, translucent bodies, and dorsal fin rays which are shorter than their anal fin rays. Adults of most species live symbiotically inside various invertebrate hosts, and some live parasitically inside sea cucumbers. The larvae are free living.
==Characteristics== Pearlfishes are slender, distinguished by having dorsal fin rays that are shorter than their anal fin rays. They have translucent, scaleless bodies reminiscent of eels. The largest pearlfish are about in length. They reproduce by laying oval-shaped eggs, about 1 mm in length.