Rubyfish

Taxobox
name = Rubyfish


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Emmelichthyidae
genus = "Plagiogeneion"
species = "P. rubiginosum"
binomial = "Plagiogeneion rubiginosum"
binomial_authority = (Hutton, 1875)

The rubyfish, "Plagiogeneion rubiginosum", is a rover of the genus "Plagiogeneion", found at midwater over the outer continental shelf off South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the south west Pacific, at depths of between 50 and 600 m. Its length is up to 60 cm.

The rubyfish is a much more deeper bodied version of the redbait, with a single long dorsal fin. The bluntly pointed snout contains a large extensible mouth with flexible toothless jaws ideal for gulping down planktonic animals.

Body colour is a uniform dark red with a small yellow spot on each scale, giving the fish an orange tinge. The fins are red and the tips of the caudal fin is blackish.

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