Fish-needle - the paradox of nature

Needle fish belongs to the family of needles. About 200 varieties are known, each type having a certain body length, which can be from 3 to 60 cm.

This fish justifies its name. It can be compared to a needle or a colored faceted pencil. The body of this fish is thin, elongated, with uniformly located bone thickenings, like an external skeleton. The tail is fan-shaped, elongated. Dorsal fin small, so it can not develop a large speed. Coloring - from yellowish and dark green to speckles to reddish tones. It can vary depending on the environment. Mouth long, tubular, widening at the end. On the sides of the mouth are scallops. That's it, fish-needle. The photo shows it well.

Teeth are absent, as they are not necessary. The fish-needle eats small crustaceans, plankton, larvae of insects, and will not refuse from the alien caviar. In search of food, it focuses on sight. Shy. Most of life Spends between the stones, in the thickets of marine plants, calmly lies at the bottom or slowly moves along the bottom. Sluggish, only the danger makes her move faster, snaking like a snake across her whole body. For this ability it is also called zmeerybyka.

Fish-needle is found in the Atlantic Ocean, the Black, Caspian, Azov, Mediterranean seas, as well as in the mouths of rivers flowing into these seas, i.e. In warm waters. The average depth, which prefers to inhabit, is about 9-12 meters. Moreover, it tries to keep close to the coast. It grows slowly, by the age of five, the fish of the Black Sea reaches 19 cm in length and weighs 5 g.

Children like to catch it in shallow water. Caught fish they dry in the sun. Dried with a rest dried fish as souvenirs.

The process of reproduction is very interesting for this fish. Spawning occurs in May-June. At the end of the mating games, the female, wrapped around the male, spawns in the folds of the skin on the ventral side of his body. In the process of throwing eggs are fertilized. After filling the edges of the folds converge, forming a brood chamber, which occupies the third part of the length of the male. If the eggs were not enough, the male is able to take caviar from another female. Being in the brood chamber, eggs (up to 100 pieces) are fed and oxygen along the blood vessels of the father.

Hatching from them, the fry still spend some time in the brood chamber. To release the fry, the male bends in an arc and opens the brood chamber. In case of danger, the fry is hidden.

Swedish scientists, conducting experiments with a fish-needle, came to the conclusion that not all eggs turn into fry. If the male does not have enough food, then some of them dissolve, entering his body. Digesting their contents, he continues to feed and grow the remaining. A needle fish is a good example of how nature has wisely managed, trying to support and continue life.

Practical interest for people it does not represent. The fish-needle is not used for food and is not suitable as a bait. Predatory fish claim it only in the absence of other, more delicious food.