Bald notothen

Taxobox
name = Bald notothen
status =
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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Nototheniidae
genus = "Pagothenia"
species = "P. borchgrevinki"
binomial = "Pagothenia borchgrevinki"
binomial_authority = Boulenger, 1902

The bald notothen ("Pagothenia borchgrevinki") is a cryopelagic fish of the Southern Ocean. Antifreeze proteins in its blood prevent it freezing in the sub-zero water temperatures of Antarctica. It is found in the Weddell Sea, the Ross Sea, the Davis Sea, in Vincennes Bay, and around the Budd Coast, the Antarctic Peninsula, South Orkneys and South Shetland Islands.

Growing to a maximum length of about 28 cm (11 in), it is yellow with dark spots and irregular crossbars. Its dorsal and caudal fins may occasionally also be spotted.

It spends most of the time under the ice at depths to 550 m (1805 ft) where it feeds on copepods and krill. It is preyed upon by the Ploughfish, "Gymnodraco acuticeps", the Antarctic Cod, "Dissostichus mawsoni" as well as the Emperor Penguin, "Aptenodytes forsteri".

References

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