Wolf herring
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| Wolf herrings Temporal range: 55–0 Ma Eocene to Present[1] |
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| Dorab wolf-herring | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Clupeiformes |
| Family: | Chirocentridae Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1846 |
| Genus: | Chirocentrus Cuvier, 1816 |
| Species | |
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See text |
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The wolf herrings are a family (Chirocentridae) of two marine species of ray-finned fish related to the herrings.
Both species have elongated bodies and jaws with long sharp teeth that facilitate their ravenous appetites, mostly for other fish.[2] Both species reach a length of 1 m. They have silvery sides and bluish backs.
They are commercially fished, and marketed fresh or frozen.
[edit] Species
- Chirocentrus dorab (Forsskål, 1775) (Dorab wolf-herring) (found in warm coastal waters from the Red Sea to Japan and Australia)
- Chirocentrus nudus Swainson, 1839 (Whitefin wolf-herring) (found in a similar range) This species is difficult to distinguish from C. dorab (the former has a black mark on its dorsal fin). This species is also known to eat crabs in addition to its usual diet of smaller fish.
[edit] References
- ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
- ^ Nelson, Gareth (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Chirocentridae" in FishBase. June 2011 version.
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