Sea fox: description, habitat and interesting facts

Man gave the name to the ocean inhabitants, guided by strange criteria. Often used names of land animals that have at least a remote external similarity or similar habits. So, seafarers called a manatee a sea cow because of large dimensions and apparent sluggishness. And the name of the sea fox was fixed immediately after several representatives of the depths.

Dangerous predator

In the waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, there is a large predator - fox shark. Its average length can reach six meters, and weight - almost 400 kg. The more common name for this type of fish, as you may have guessed, is the sea fox. The shark received it thanks to a long tail, and to be more precise, the upper part of the caudal fin. This device helps the predator to obtain food for himself. And how this happens, let's try to describe in more detail.

How the shark, named the sea fox, hunts

The sea fox rarely attacks the prey directly. It uses for hunting a flexible elongated part of the caudal fin. Finding a flock of fish, the predator quickly breaks into its middle and begins to wave its tail. The claws of the fin stun the prey, and the shark can only eat still fishes.

One or more?

Sharks with a characteristic caudal fin belong to the same genus, but are divided into three types:

• Sea fox is common.
• Fox deep-sea (big-eyed shark).
• Pelagic shark from the genus of foxes.

The length of the caudal fin of each member of this genus is more than half the length of its body. Man is least likely to encounter a deep-sea predator. Her habits are poorly understood, but eyewitnesses of these rare encounters told us that the strong tail blows that the fish inflicted when they were on the deck of a fishing schooner caused enormous damage and injuries to the fishermen.

Pelagic fox shark also occurs infrequently. Because of the peculiarities of hunting habits, prey is mainly planted on the fishing hook not by the mouth, but by the caudal fin.

The common sea fox is more common. It has a wide range of habitats - from the tropics to the shores of Norway. This fish is the largest of all foxes. It can grow to six meters.

The color of different species varies from gray-brown to dark-gray. Sometimes the fish can be blue. The back is always darker than the belly. Ventral and pectoral fins of sea foxes can have white spots.

How the Long-tailed Predator breeds

Fox refers to viviparous sharks. One female does not have more than two babies at the same time. Although it is rather difficult to call the baby a fox fox. Its length at birth is almost one and a half meters. By the time of puberty, "babies" grow up to four meters.

Primitive antiquity

In general, sharks are a very ancient species of fish. Scientists believe that 400 million years ago, these predators have already hunted in the ocean depths. This fact can explain a somewhat primitive structure of sharks. To begin with, the species belongs to cartilaginous fishes, that is, they do not have bone tissue. And the sharks have no gill cover. However, ancient predators perfectly feel themselves in the modern world and in no way inferior to the more "young" species.

Another animal is a ramp

The name of the sea fox was fixed by one more representative of the underwater world. So they call thorny (prickly) rays. This is a bottom fish of somewhat unusual shape. It lives in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.

An interesting animal, a sea fox, has a rhomboid flat body and a long narrow tail. In many individuals, the length of the tail is equal to the length of the body. The back and the upper part of the tail of an adult prickly stingray have a line of thorns. In the number of them there can be up to thirty-two pieces. The tail ends with two small dorsal fins. The sea fox has a short head, and its body, despite the fact that it is not round, is called a disc.

Some features of skates

Most of the time skates sea foxes spend, buried in a muddy or sandy bottom. The favorite depth is from twenty to three hundred meters, but there have been cases of detection of individual representatives at a depth of 550 m.

This species refers to rhombus rays and, like the fox of a shark, to a family of cartilaginous fishes. It feeds on worms, larvae, small mollusks, everything that is called one word - benthos. Sometimes in the diet of adults there are crustaceans and small fish.

The size of the male foxes is relatively small, no more than 70 cm. The female is much larger. Some individuals grow to 120 cm.

Reproduction

Scat is a marine fox refers to egg-bearing species, that is, embryos develop outside the mother's body. Sprit in the spring, they are characterized by internal fertilization. After that, the female lays eggs for several weeks. This daily process brings 50-150 eggs a season. Eggs of the ramp are protected by a dense capsule with special lateral processes. They are like threads that attach to algae, holding the egg in place.

Cubs of eggs appear after 5 months. Small stingrays have a length of 12-13 cm. Feeding babies is extracted independently, often they themselves become a food for larger predatory fish. The average lifespan of a stingray is a marine fox - 15-17 years. Sexual maturity of males and females reach about the eighth year of life.

Pectoral fins of marine foxes (sharks and rays)

It is interesting to consider the fundamental differences between sharks and rays having the same name. The fox shark is like a live torpedo that rushes in the depths of the sea. A stingray fox resembles a huge leaf, which moves through wave-like movements. The shape of the body of sharks and rays is dictated by the evolution of species, as they lead a different lifestyle.

The pectoral fins of the fox are different. Their function depends on the type of fish:

• Pectoral fins of a shark of a marine fox serve for stability of a body. They do not allow the predator to fall on its side. And this is a kind of "rudders of heights."
• At the stingray of the marine fox, pectoral fins are designed for planning. They have unusually wide edges that have fused with the lateral surfaces of the body and head.

Thus, thanks to the peculiarities of the structure of the pectoral fins, the shark was able to quickly swim and actively maneuver during hunting. A stingray the sea fox can smoothly and calmly move in the water column, collecting its small fodder.

In fact, skates and sharks are close relatives. Both species belong to the ancient cartilaginous fishes. However, evolution slowly changed the structure of its wards, and today it is difficult to believe in such kinship ties.