About Rattail - Deep Sea Fish
Rattail fish, also known as Grenadier fish, its scientific name is 'Albatrossia pectorate'. It is found living just above the bottom of the sea. They usually swim slowly over the surface of the sea searching for their prey, and carcasses to eat. They have high levels of chemical compound known as TMAO, which is very smelly and this make the rattail not only ugly, but stinky too. Every ocean creatures have this chemical in their body. This chemical helps to maintain hydration levels of the body while living in salt water or else water would move from low salinity to high salinity. Without this chemical, fish would be affected by dehydration of the ocean water.
They are generally found in deep waters. You can find them in Artic Ocean and Antarctic Ocean.
Rattail fish are generally bottom or benthic dwelling fish. They are found 3000m below the sea level.
Physical description :
They have big heads and tapering tails, which makes them, look long like large tadpoles. Their snouts are blunt and barbels chin that makes them to feel the sea bed for food. The mouth is on the underside of their head. Their eyes are very sensitive with number of rods in them compared to any other animal.
Life span :
Rattail fish lives around 25 to 30 years.
They have a varied diet for example: crustaceans, fishes, and cephalopods. Sometimes they also eat the animals swimming on the surface of the sea. They have a hard pointed snout, which helps them to plough the sediments for eating worms and invertebrates. In their inner gill the arches act as sieves to extract food from the sediment.
They are the most abundant species on the sea floor. This fishes are commonly seen. Their heads are angled down into the current, and they move with the help of their heads with their tail elevated. Swim bladder makes them buoyant and helps them to move up and down, but they always swim slowly in order to conserve energy.
Mysterious rattailfish facts :
Rattail fish has a light producing organ located near their anus, which has mirrors and lens. The functions of these organs are still a mystery, or we can say that they use this light for searching food.
Rattail fish releases their eggs into the water to float freely, but sometimes these eggs are eaten by some other fish.
They are generally about thirty to sixty centimeter in length.
Rattailfish as food :
Fish lovers will love it, as they are very tasty. Make sure you cook well before eating.
Those who are familiar with the Rattail or Grenadier fish, which live in the deep water in the ocean, they probably must be thankful that they stay there because they are extremely ugly and stinky. They always stay at the bottom of the sea surface and despite their ferocious look they are not dangerous.