Slender snipe eel
Encyclopedia
The slender snipe eel, Nemichthys scolopaceus, sometimes referred to as the deep sea duck, is a fish
that can weigh only a few ounces, yet reach 5 feet or 1.5 m in length. Features include a bird-like beak
with curving tips, covered with tiny hooked teeth, which they use to sweep through the water to catch shrimp
and other crustacean
s. It has a lifespan of ten years.
It has more vertebrae in its backbone than any other animal, around 750. However, its anus
has moved forward during its evolution and is now located on its throat. Its larvae are shaped like leaves, which actually get smaller before transforming into adults.
Many specimens found in museums were spat up from larger fish that were caught in trawls.
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
that can weigh only a few ounces, yet reach 5 feet or 1.5 m in length. Features include a bird-like beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
with curving tips, covered with tiny hooked teeth, which they use to sweep through the water to catch shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
and other crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s. It has a lifespan of ten years.
It has more vertebrae in its backbone than any other animal, around 750. However, its anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
has moved forward during its evolution and is now located on its throat. Its larvae are shaped like leaves, which actually get smaller before transforming into adults.
Many specimens found in museums were spat up from larger fish that were caught in trawls.