Slender snipefish

Tropical reef fish

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Identity card

Longspine Snipefish

Scientific name:: Macroramphosus gracilis

Family:: Macroramphosidae

Class:: Actinopterygii

Phylum:: Chordata

Year of description:: Linnaeus, 1758

IUCN Status:: Least Concern

Distribution:: Indo-Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Eastern Australia.

Habitat:: It is found in the world's tropical oceans at depths of 50 to 500 m.

Size:: up to 15 cm

Diet:: Planktonic crustaceans

Where can I find it at Nausicaá?

JOURNEY ON THE HIGH SEAS

Did you know?

It uses its tube-shaped, toothless mouth to suck in its prey.

Therefore, it is often seen at an angle, with its head towards the ground, in search of food

Where is the animal to be found?

It is found in the world's tropical oceans at depths of 50 to 500 m.

How can it be recognised?

The longspine snipefish has a slender body that is compressed sideways.

Its eyes are relatively large compared to the size of its body.

It has a long tube-shaped snout with a tiny mouth at the end. It spends most of the time with its head facing downwards.

What is distinctive about it?

The longspine snipefish is a gregarious fish: it can form shoals of several hundred individuals.

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