Man gave the name to the ocean inhabitants, guided by strange criteria. Often used the names of land animals that have at least a distant external similarity or similar habits. So, mariners called manatee a sea cow because of its large size and apparent slowness. And the name sea fox was fixed immediately to 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 species of fish, you guessed it, is a sea fox. The shark got it due to its long tail, and to be more precise, the upper lobe of the caudal fin. This device helps the predator get its own food. And how this happens, we will try to describe in more detail.
How to hunt a shark called a sea fox
Sea fox rarely attacks prey directly. She uses a flexible, elongated part of the caudal fin for hunting. Having discovered a school of fish, the predator quickly breaks into its middle and begins to swing its tail. The biting blows of the fin stun the prey, and the shark can only eat motionless fish.
One or more?
Sharks with a characteristic tail fin belong to the same genus, but are divided into three species:
- Sea fox ordinary.
- The fox is deep-sea (big-eyed shark).
- Pelagic shark of the genus fox.
The length of the caudal fin of each representative of this genus is more than half the length of her body. Least of all, a person encounters a deep-sea predator. Her habits were poorly studied, but eyewitnesses of these rare encounters said that the strong tail blows that the fish inflicted while on the deck of a fishing schooner caused great damage and injured the fishermen.
Pelagic fox shark also comes across infrequently. Due to the peculiarities of hunting habits, prey is mainly mounted on the fishing hook not by the mouth, but by the tail fin.
Common sea fox is more common. It has an extensive habitat - from the tropics to the shores of Norway. This fish is the largest of all foxes. She can grow up to six meters.
The color of different species varies from gray-brown to dark gray. Sometimes the fish may be blue. The back is always darker than the belly. The ventral and pectoral fins of the sea fox may have white spots.
How the long-tailed predator breeds
The fox belongs to viviparous sharks. In one female, no more than two babies are born at a time. Although it is quite difficult to call a baby a baby fox shark. 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 already hunted in the deep ocean. This fact can explain the somewhat primitive structure of sharks. To begin with, the species belongs to cartilaginous fish, that is, they have no bone tissue. And sharks lack gill covers. However, ancient predators feel great in the modern world and are in no way inferior to the more “young” species.
Another animal - stingray
The name sea fox was assigned to another representative of the underwater world. So called prickly (prickly) rays. This is a bottom fish of a somewhat unusual shape. It lives in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.
An interesting animal, a sea fox, has a diamond-shaped flat body and a long narrow tail. In many individuals, the tail length is equal to the length of the body. The back and upper tail of an adult prickly slope has a line of spikes. In a row there can be up to thirty-two pieces. The tail ends with two small dorsal fins. Stingray sea fox has a short head, and his body, despite the fact that it is not round, is called a disk.
Some features of stingrays
Sea foxes spend most of their time stingrays burying themselves in a muddy or sandy bottom. Favorite depth - from twenty to three hundred meters, but there were cases of the discovery of individual representatives at a depth of 550 m.
This species belongs to rhombic rays and, like fox sharks, to the family of cartilaginous fish. It feeds on worms, larvae, small mollusks, everything that is called in one word - benthos. Sometimes in the diet of adults there are crustaceans and small fish.
The size of the male sea fox is relatively small, not more than 70 cm. The female is much larger. Some individuals grow to 120 cm.
Breeding
Stingray sea fox is an oviparous species, that is, embryos develop outside the mother's body. Stingrays mate in the spring, they are characterized by internal fertilization. After which the female lays eggs for several weeks. This daily process brings 50-150 eggs a season. Stingray eggs are protected by a dense capsule with special lateral processes. They look like threads that attach to algae, holding the egg in place.
Cubs from eggs appear after 5 months. Small slopes have a length of 12-13 cm. The kids get their own food on their own, often they themselves become food for larger predatory fish. The average lifespan of a stingray sea fox is 15-17 years. Males and females reach puberty at about the eighth year of life.
