The strap-fish, or the herring king - the mystery of nature

If you hold a beauty contest among the inhabitantssea ​​depths, then the crown, for sure, would have gone to the selenium king. The second name is a belt-fish. It refers to the family of hard-ass. The lucky ones who managed to see this fish personally are not so many.

Strap-fish: a general description

The appearance of the Selgian King is trulybewitches. No wonder it is considered the most beautiful marine life. In length, the fish can reach seventeen meters, but most often there are instances of three and a half meters to five. The belt-fish is the longest bone fish, it is entered in the Guinness Book of Records. With such a rather large "growth" the width of the body can not exceed seven centimeters.

For this the seldom king was given the name of a fish-belt(photo is presented in the article). The body of the fish is covered with light silvery scales, dark spots and streaks are randomly scattered on it. In addition, the fish does not have a swimming bladder. The head is dark blue. But the main adornment of the Selden King is its fiery red mane, which develops during swimming, as a plume. For her, she received the title of King. This very mane is the dorsal fin, which consists of separate red rays. The lateral fins are no less beautiful - crimson. With his fins, the fish wiggles like oars. But the ichthyologist D. Olney believes that the fins are the organs of perception of taste. But not only from their brethren, the strap-fish differs in appearance, the manner of swimming is also unlike the others. The fish-strap floats ... vertically! Yes, yes, that's right - head up. The king feeds on plankton and small crustaceans. Fishermen often met him in herring herds (which also affected the name of the fish), so that perhaps the medium-sized herring is included in the "royal" diet.

Habitat

Inhabits the strap-fish in the warm waters of the Indian,Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Occasionally sails to the shores of Europe, which is due to global warming. But the meat of fish is absolutely inedible, it is not eaten even by animals. But some gourmets do not agree with this statement. On the contrary, they consider the seldom king to be very tasty, and refer it to delicacies, the main thing is to cook properly.

Secrets of the Herring King

The fish-belt is still very little studied, scientists are stillpores do not know anything about the life of this animal. All that could be learned thanks to the laboratory studies of the bodies of the caught fish did not add much to the piggy bank. The sizes of the caught individuals, as a rule, did not exceed six meters, but the seamen who observed the sable king in wildlife say they saw the real giants - up to twenty meters. How many fish live, is still unknown.

First evidence

The first information about the seagull king is found inrecords of ancient times. They talk about a sea monster or a snake emerging from the deep sea. Called him the Great Sea Serpent. The people were so impressed by the appearance of the unknown creature that they described him as a monster with the head of a bull or a horse, with a fiery red mane. Sailors considered meeting with the sea serpent not promising anything good. The Herring King became a legend, after which many naturalists hunted afterwards.

Other encounters with the Herring King

In 1771, Morton Bryunnich (Danish naturalist)For the first time he described a fish-strap, the body of which was thrown onto the Norwegian shore. Since then, no more than twenty-five meetings with this amazing fish have been documented. In 1906, marine biologist Wyrd Jones observed the seldom king in natural conditions. He wrote in his work "Pisces of the Indo-Australian Archipelago" that the strap-fish swam to the bow of the ship very close.

Her body was very long and shone in the sunsilver scales. Near the head there was a red trail, and the dorsal fins were poured in a rich pink color. The fishermen threw bait nets into the water, but the fish did not react to it. After swimming a little near the ship, the herring king disappeared into the abyss of the ocean. But, perhaps, the longest observed was the "sea serpent" naturalist Holder. Near the island of Saita-Catalina, the strap-fish (California, Avalon Bay) swam in shallow water, splashing on sandy shallows. She was noticed by a scientist and watched for a long time a handsome sea-man. But in 1963 the body of the seldom king, thrown ashore near the village of Malibu, caused a real stir. A resident of California, walking with her dog along the beach, came across a certain monster. This meeting struck the woman so much that her cry, full of horror, woke up almost all the inhabitants of the coastal strip. In the windows of the houses the light began to light up, and after half an hour all the inhabitants of the small town knew about the unusual find. Police, who arrived at the scene, after what they saw preferred to call experts. Now found a copy is in the Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles.