Red bandfish

Taxobox
name = Red bandfish


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Cepolidae
genus = "Cepola"
species = "C. haastii"
binomial = "Cepola haastii"
binomial_authority = (Hector, 1881)

The red bandfish, "Cepola haastii", is a bandfish of the family Cepolidae, found on the inner continental shelf around New Zealand. Its length is between 15 and 25 cm.

The red bandfish is an elongate fish with the body tapering to a point with no separate tail. The dorsal and anal fins run the length of the body from just behind the head, becoming continuous where a tail would normally be. Large eyes dominate the head and small pointed teeth fill the wide mouth, well suited to grasping the small crustaceans which these fish feed on.

They live buried in the soft bottom sediments and are rarely seen.

References

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* 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