General Description

A dark tripodfish with scales distinctly outlined in black, a broad white band on the body above the pelvic-fin base, and a second white band around the caudal peduncle. The head is bluish-black below, pale above, and the fins are black except the caudal fin which is white or transparent distally. Up to 26 cm long.

Biology

Individuals prop tripod-like on their long pelvic and caudal fin rays, raising their bodies off the seafloor. They face into the current, extending their long sensory pectoral fins forward to detect the movement of zooplankton such as small crustaceans that drift by in the current. Spiderfishes (family Ipnopidae) are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Individuals have an ovotestis containing functional male and female reproductive tissue.

Distribution

North-west of Shark Bay to north of Port Hedland, Western Australia, and the Coral Sea, east of Southern Small Detached Reef, Queensland, to east of Byron Bay, New South Wales; also the Cocos (Keeling) Islands territory in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical, Indo-west Pacific: South Africa east to the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, north to southern Japan, south to New Caledonia. Inhabits grey, green and brownish-green muddy areas, and fine coral sand on the continental slope at depths to 1500 m.

Habitat

Continental slope

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