bio.wikisort.org - Animal

Echiodon drummondii, sometimes called Drummond's echiodon or Drummond's pearlfish,[3] and in Ireland simply called the pearlfish,[4] is a species of fish in the family Carapidae (pearlfish).[5][6]

Echiodon drummondii
Drawing from A History of the Fishes of the British Islands (1877)
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Ophidiiformes
Family:	Carapidae
Genus:	Echiodon
Species:	E. drummondii
Binomial name
Echiodon drummondii (Thompson, 1837)
Synonyms[2]
Echiodon drummondi Thompson, 1837

It is named for James Lawson Drummond, who collected the holotype at Carnlough, Ireland in 1836.[4][7]

Description

Echiodon drummondii is reddish in colour with a silvery abdomen, operculum and iris and dark markings on the head.[8] It has an eel-like body, up to 30 cm (1 ft) in length, making it among the largest of the family.[9] Its eyes are large, and lateral line is very faint.

Habitat

Echiodon drummondii is bathydemersal, living at depths of 52–403 m (171–1,322 ft) in the North Sea and the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland;[8] it has also been recorded off Iceland and the Azores.[10]

Behaviour

Echiodon drummondii can be free-living and feeds on small invertebrates, fish and bottom-dwellers.[8] It is also known to live inside sea cucumbers; the cucumber opens its anus to breathe in, and the pearlfish swims in.[11][4] Eggs have been discovered in the seabed off County Kerry.[12]

References

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