Goanna fish

Taxobox
name = Goanna fish


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Notacanthiformes
familia = Halosauridae
genus = "Halosaurus"
species = "H. pectoralis"
binomial = "Halosaurus pectoralis"
binomial_authority = McCulloch, 1926

The goanna fish, Australian halosaur, or common halosaur, "Halosaurus pectoralis", is a halosaur of the genus "Halosaurus", found in the south west Pacific Ocean, at depths of between 500 and 1,000 m. Its length is between 40 and 70 cm.

The rare goanna fish has a greatly elongated and pointed tail, similar to the rattails, but without a long second dorsal fin extending to the tip of the tail. The dorsal fin is set back about a third of the length of the fish, matched by pelvic fins which help distinguish it from the true eels which it resembles. The gill apertures are large, another difference from the true eels. Viewed from the side the snout is pointed and overhangs the small mouth. Unusually, the lateral line runs along the lower part of the body.

Body colour is grey or brown, with black pigment inside the mouth and gill region and also under the head.

References

*
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8