Our article will tell about unusual creatures - pinagore fish. Nature awarded them with expressive and memorable appearance, as well as with unusual organs - suckers.
Fancy Pinagor Names
The name "sparrow fish" may be associated with a tiny nimble small fish, but in reality this creature looks more like a large cone dotted with mounds.
The English name is literally translated into Russian as "cone fish", "stone fish" or "block fish". The Scandinavians call these creatures "biting stones", which is quite justified by their appearance and behavioral characteristics. In many other foreign languages, the name of these creatures also refers to the suction cup. And the scientific name of this fish is “pinagor”.
External features
These are radiant fish. The main distinguishing feature of sparrow fish is an almost round profile. His body is very thick, compressed laterally. The abdomen is almost flat, with a suction cup on it.
A pinagor fish does not have scales; its body is covered with thick skin dotted with numerous small tubercles. The dorsal fin, as it grows, is so overgrown with a layer of thick skin that it becomes like a crest with bone growths. But it is soft to the touch.
Through the body of the pinagor, from head to tail, 3 rows of large cone-shaped tubercles pass, so the fish looks like a tremendous forest cone.
The head of a sparrow fish is large with large eyes. The mouth of the pinagor is relatively small, it has conical shaped teeth.
Photos help imagine what a pinagor fish looks like. Please note: its front part is massive, and the back seems to be shortened.
The length of the cone fish usually reaches 20-50 centimeters. The largest individuals sometimes grow to even 60 centimeters. The average weight of pinagors is usually 5-9 kilograms. Researchers have noticed that females of these fish are usually larger and more massive than males.
Sparrow fish is dull. Fry is born yellowish-green, on their heads are silver stripes. Females are green-blue, and males are usually gray-blue. The upper surface of the block fish is dark, the lower part is lighter. On the sides of the body are spots of dark shades that create a camouflage effect.
In the mating season, male pinagors noticeably change: their bellies and leathery fins acquire a red-brown hue, their back darkens almost to ink or even black. Fish roe has a pink color.
This ray-shaped fish belongs to the krugloper family. Like all brothers in the class, it has rounded fins.
Interesting facts: why was the fish called a sparrow?
The bird name is not only in Russian. In Britain, the pinagora is called "chicken fish." Why did the fish get such unusual nicknames?
This is due to some behavioral characteristics of males. In the mating season, they are the ones who take care of raising the babies.
In addition, adult pinagors are real badasses and brawlers. They attack enemies and drive them away from caviar or young animals. By such behavior, the father strongly resembles at the same time a caring laying hen and a bully-sparrow. He does not leave the clutch for a minute, in which fish caviar ripens. Young fry are also surrounded by paternal care. In times of danger, children are attached to the body of the father with the help of their suction cups, after which he quickly leaves the dangerous place, literally, covering himself with all his precious cargo.
It is noted that caring for the growing fry takes all the strengths of a happy father. He is so selflessly devoted to this matter that he does not even have time to eat. Over the entire period of juvenile guardianship, the male noticeably loses weight, and some sparrow fish even die from exhaustion.
Lifestyle
Pinagors live in cold reservoirs. They are distributed mainly in the northern latitudes of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and even in the Arctic. Appearance stipulates that the pinagora fish are not very good swimmers. They spend a significant part of the time at a depth of 50-200 meters, swimming in thickets of algae and sinking to a rocky bottom. Against this background, camouflage coloring helps the cone fish to remain almost invisible.
The basis of the diet of the pinagors is bottom invertebrates. And they are not averse to feasting on ctenophores and jellyfish.
Breeding
Lumps fish mature quite a long time; they are ready to start the breeding process no earlier than 4 years of age. Pinagors spawn at the end of May. Females spawn in shallow water, sailing there from the open sea.
Scientists do not know exactly why during the mating season, all lump fish stop eating. But this is an established fact.
On average, females toss 200, 000 eggs each, making several approaches. Immediately after sweeping, the mother swims into the open sea and the father comes.
The development of eggs lasts about 2 months. At this time, large multi-colored clusters of caviar are visible among thickets of underwater plants. Hatched pinagor babies live in tidal waves for the first time. They swim into the open sea no earlier than September, when they grow up to at least 2 centimeters. At first, the fry swim very badly.
