Comes from Southeast Asia. The habitat extends from Pakistan and India further east to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Wild populations were brought to the islands of Hawaii, where they successfully took root.
They inhabit slow-moving rivers and streams, swamps. During the rainy season, as the water level rises, they swim into faster rivers, artificial and irrigation canals. They prefer dimly lit places with dense coastal vegetation.
Brief information:
- Aquarium volume - from 500 l.
- Temperature - 22–28°C
- pH value - 6.0–8.0
- Water hardness - soft to medium hard (2–15 dGH)
- Substrate type - any
- Lighting - dim
- Brackish water - no
- Water movement - weak/moderate
- Fish size - up to 35 cm.
- Food - live and fresh food
- Temperament - peaceful
- Keeping in a group of 3–4 individuals
Description
Adult individuals reach a length of up to 35 cm. A characteristic feature of the species is the structure of the body - very thin and very elongated. Thanks to this shape, the fish received one of its names “Silver Needle”. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed. Nevertheless, it is quite easy to distinguish a male from a female. In males, the dorsal and anal fins have a black border. In addition, during the mating season, a small hump grows behind the head, the lower jaw acquires a reddish tint, and the abdomen becomes yellow-gold.
Nutrition
A predator, in nature it feeds on small fish and insects. In a home aquarium, adults should be fed strips of fish meat, shrimp, mussels, large earthworms, flies, crickets and other insects. Young specimens can be content with small earthworms and pieces of shrimp.
Maintenance and care, arrangement of the aquarium
The optimal size of a tank for 3-4 fish starts from 500 liters, the depth should be at least 30 cm. The design should include dense clusters of plants placed along the walls of the aquarium, thus preserving free areas for swimming. The lighting is dim. The presence of plants floating on the surface and hanging over the water is welcome. Since they serve as an additional means of shading, in this case it will be necessary to increase the brightness of the light. Other decorative elements and soil are selected at the discretion of the aquarist.
A productive filtration system is mandatory when keeping predatory species. In addition to the power of the filter, you should pay attention to what and how the purified water is returned. Depending on the models and types of filters, water is returned in different ways, some of which create excess flow. In the case of Freshwater Spinefish, internal current should be minimal.
High quality water is also maintained by its weekly change (20–30% of volume) and regular removal of organic waste from the surface of the substrate and decorative elements.
Behavior and Compatibility
Predatory, but not aggressive species. The garfish is able to get along with other calm fish that are large enough to fit into its mouth. It is worth avoiding the settlement of overly active and restless species, such as Barbs. There are no intraspecific conflicts. It prefers to stay in a small flock of three to four individuals.
Breeding/reproduction
Breeding pipefish in a home aquarium is difficult due to the need to recreate the changes in habitat conditions that occur in nature. The mating season occurs from May to September, when large amounts of precipitation falls in Southeast Asia, changing the hydrochemical composition of the water and lowering its temperature. The female lays several eggs daily, attaching them to the flooded vegetation with thin adhesive threads. The incubation period lasts from 7 to 10 days. The hatched fry feed on zooplankton. As they grow older, larger fish may eat their smaller counterparts.
Pipefish belong to the suborder Pipefish, which includes marine pipefish, brackish water and freshwater pipefish. There are a total of 196 species, which are divided into 51 genera according to various characteristics.
Description
In adulthood, needle fish can be 2.5...60 cm long. They have a very elongated body and a head, at the end of which there is a tube-shaped snout. There are no fins on the belly; on the tail it is small or absent. The fish is also distinguished by a long and flexible tail, which can cling to underwater algae.
The color of needlefishes is very variable. The body of the long-snout needlefish can be red, purple, yellow, brown, green, gray with spots, white. Some of them are able to adjust their color to the surrounding conditions.
Habitats
Needle fish can be found in coastal areas of seas in temperate latitudes and in the tropics. Most often, the needle fish lives in areas near sandy shores, where there are underwater thickets of algae and corals. There are some species of fish that prefer to spend their entire lives in the water column. These include, for example, the Black Sea needle fish and fish that come from the Sargasso Sea and are found far from the coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
Nutrition
The needle fish feeds quite monotonously. Its diet consists mostly of small planktonic crustaceans. Thanks to her tubular snout, she simply pulls them in when they inadvertently approach her less than 4 cm.
Reproduction
This process is complex in needle fish. Caring for the offspring of this species of fish is entrusted to the males. Most of their representatives, from the bottom of the body, closer to the tail, have a special “brood pouch” in which they hatch eggs. The latter is added in portions by females to the pouch and is immediately fertilized.
The pouch of a river or sea pipefish has a large relative length and is located longitudinally along the body of the fish. It has a central longitudinal slot and two side flaps. The latter can bury themselves and, during gestation, isolate the embryos completely from the influence of some factors from the external environment.
Fishing for pipefish
The usual season for catching needlefish is April-October - the period when schools of fish approach areas close to the shore. Although there are exceptions: for example, plump-cheeked needle fish can be found in areas off the coast of Crimea throughout the warm winter.
The most common gear for sea needlefish is float gear. Usually these are spinning rods 2.7...4.0 m long, with a test weight of 20-60 g, with a fast or ultra-fast action.
They are equipped with spinning reels and a thin main line approximately 0.25 mm in diameter. The latter is better without color and not visible in water.
Catching needle fish is required with a leash, which is made from monofilament 0.12...0.20 mm and half a meter or more in length. It is better to set it thinner, this increases the number of bites and your catch. But, if large individuals are encountered, the leashes often break.
A sliding float is placed on the main line, having a length of 20...40 cm and a weight of up to 15 g. The float must have a bright antenna, visible from a distance. The liquid float is very popular among fishermen; less often they use a floating bombard.
Braid has proven itself well in catching needle fish as the main line on a spinning rod. 0.15...0.17 mm is suitable. A float or bombard should be selected strictly for your spinning test - this will make the fishing process easier. If a bulk float is used, it is filled with water so as to have zero buoyancy.
The equipment is equipped with only one hook, having a size according to our classification No. 2.5 ... No. 5. It is better if it is red or a color close to it.
They catch igloo fish using sand lance, nereis, shrimp meat, raw chicken breast, and salmon fillet. Often the unsurpassed bait is pieces of meat from the needle fish itself. They are small, not exceeding half a centimeter.
Places where needlefish come out are usually with a depth of 5 meters or more. In smaller areas it is very rare. When a pipefish is attacked by some kind of predator, you can see whole schools of it jumping out of the water. This may be a sign by which you can find a catchable place.
The process of fishing for needle fish itself is reminiscent of pseudo-fly fishing. Tackle with, for example, a liquid float is thrown away from the shore or boat to places where potential prey is located. Then, with the rod, they jerk it towards you, dragging the float along the surface, and behind it the leash with the bait. The fish is attracted by the sound and attacks the bait, swallowing it with its mouth.
An exotic way of catching needlefish
In New Guinea, either due to the lack of modern gear, or out of old habit, needlefish are caught using... cobwebs.
For example, fishermen of Santa Catalina Island from the Solomon Islands look for cobwebs before starting fishing. Not simple, but special, with good strength, with an intricate weave of threads. Fishing line, rods, hooks are not used at all. A twisted web (like bait) is suspended from a flying kite and that’s it.
The web bait, suspended below the snake, flies above the surface of the sea and looks like an insect fluttering above it. The fisherman launches it, of course, over the area of water under which the desired prey is hiding.
The needlefish reacts to the bait fish, attacks it and gets stuck in it with large scales and sharp teeth. This causes the serpent to fall; The fisherman sees this and begins to pull the prey towards him.
Needlefish in cooking
Spinefish meat is harmless to humans and very tasty. The fish has a characteristic feature - it has green bones. The broth from it always has a pistachio tint, but not because of these bones, but because of the special bile pigment biliverdin, which is the source of the greenish color of fish bones.
Useful properties of needle fish: fish meat is rich in iron, phosphorus, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids and other substances and microelements. The advantages of fish are its wide distribution, relatively low price, and small number of bones.
Needle fish dishes
Baked needle fish
Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and grease the top with oil. The gutted and cleaned fish is rolled into a ring, its long tail placed in the jaws, and placed on a baking sheet. Sprinkle on top with spices, salt, and sprinkle with vegetable oil.
The baking tray with the fish is placed in an oven already heated to 180°C. 20 minutes. baked.
Needlefish skin
The fish is cleaned, gutted, and filleted. The resulting strips of meat are rolled up like a roll and stabbed with a toothpick to prevent them from falling apart. 20 sec. fry using olive oil. The toothpicks are taken out, an olive is placed in the middle of the rolls, which is first stuffed with lemon.
Cut the onion into rings and a lot. Line the bottom of a frying pan with them, moistened with vegetable oil. Place the previously obtained olive rolls on top. Salt, pepper, sprinkle with herbs (rosemary, marjoram). Top with a layer of grated cold butter.
Simmer the resulting mixture for 20 minutes, covering the pan with a lid.
Dried needlefish
Fish carcasses (not cleaned) are rolled in salt and left for 20 minutes. leave. The following options are possible:
- hang the fish upside down for half a day; Next they try to see if it’s ready;
- lay the fish on newspapers and let it dry for up to half an hour on each side; put in the refrigerator for 2 days; the fish should be ready by then;
- wrap the fish in canvas and place it in the refrigerator for a day; take out, unfold, lay newspapers on top; after 0.5...1 hour the fish is ready for beer.
Needlefish sprats
Medium-sized fish are gutted, the tail and head are removed. Cut the carcasses into pieces 5...6 cm long. Place tightly in a narrow pan in columns and pour in vegetable oil 1 cm above the pieces protruding from above.
Place the pan on the lowest heat, close the lid and leave for up to 3 hours. stewed.
Smoked needle fish
Fill the onion peel with water and leave for 20 minutes. boiled. A dark brown liquid is obtained. After cooling, it is filtered.
They cut up needlefish, gut them, cut off their heads, and wash them. Place in a container and fill with liquid, to which salt (2 heaped tablespoons) and liquid smoke (5 tablespoons) are first added.
The fish is left in the air in a cool place for 3 days, then kept in the refrigerator for the same amount of time. Then take it out, wash it for 2…3 hours. suspended. It turns out better than hot smoked needle fish. Store the supply in the refrigerator.
NeedlefishPhoto 1 of 3
Needlefish has a long, very thin body, with a long caudal peduncle, covered with hexagonal rings of bone plates. The snout is tubular and long (especially in Caspian populations), and has scallops on its sides. The gill covers are strongly convex and have a crest only in front. There is a faint ridge on the crown. The dorsal fin is long and begins in front of the anus, the caudal fin is very small. There are 15-17 trunk girdles, 36-41 caudal girdles. There are 7-9 (10) belts under the dorsal fin.
The body color is greenish-brown or reddish-brown, with light transverse stripes in the middle of each girdle. The belly is whitish and the ventral carina is blackish. There are no spots on the dorsal fin. The needle fish grows slowly, reaching a length of 19 cm and a weight of 5 g at 5 years. The maximum age is 6 years, length up to 23 cm, weight up to 5 g.
Euryhaline species, can live in both fresh and salt waters (up to 35). Found in thickets of aquatic plants. In the spring, sea needle fish enters rivers and lakes, sometimes rising to considerable distances (in the Dnieper up to 900 km). The freshwater form leads a watery lifestyle in lakes, reservoirs and oxbow lakes, adhering to the same habitats throughout its life. Pipefish feed on small crustaceans, juveniles only on zooplankton, and adults on plankton, large crustaceans, insect larvae, and sometimes larvae and juvenile fish. In search of prey, it navigates using vision.
Spawning occurs in May-June. The process of reproduction is very peculiar. After mating games with a partner, the female wraps herself around him and lays eggs in the male’s brood chamber located on the caudal peduncle. In this case, the eggs are fertilized, after which the brood chamber is closed by a leathery fold. Fecundity is low, up to 100 eggs. At one time, the female can lay up to 20 eggs. If the male's brood chamber is not full, he can accept eggs from another female. During the season, the female lays up to three portions of eggs.
Males with eggs and embryos in the brood chamber were found in May-July, in the Volga reservoirs in June-August. The eggs are located in the cells of the brood chamber and are completely isolated from the external environment. She receives oxygen from the father's blood flowing to the mucous membrane of the brood chamber. There can be 30-85 eggs in the chamber; in small males they are arranged in 2 rows, in large males in 3 rows. The male carries the eggs and then the larvae until the end of August. After the fry emerge, the mucous membrane separates, similar to the placenta of mammals.
The needle fish is widespread along all shores of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas, and enters rivers and associated lakes. In the Caspian Sea it lives in all areas; a dwarf form was discovered in the salty bays of Dead Kultuk and Kaydak. Found in fresh water, in the deltas of the Volga, Ural, Terek, lower reaches of the Kura and in rivers south coast seas. Before the regulation of the Volga, it did not rise above Astrakhan. In recent decades, the needle has been rising up the Volga. It was first discovered in the Kuibyshev reservoir in 1962; later it was also noted in the Volgograd, Saratov and even Rybinsk reservoirs. Perhaps the Caspian subspecies is self-dispersing from the lower reaches of the Volga, or it was accidentally brought here during the acclimatization of mysids from the Tsimlyansk Reservoir (a typical Black Sea subspecies). In the Azov Sea basin, the Black Sea needle is widespread in the Kuban estuaries in water with varying salinity. It had not been recorded before in the Kuban and its tributaries, as well as in the Seversky Donets, but after the construction of the Krasnodar reservoir it populated the lower reaches of the Kuban. In the Don basin it is found in the lower reaches. Available in Lake Paleostomi.
In salty seas and oceans, as well as freshwater reservoirs, you can find very interesting fish, with a long and needle-thin body and an elongated muzzle. Its body is covered with bone plates that look like a hexagon. The head is decorated with a small scallop. The color can be completely different and depends on the habitat. There are individuals of brown-green and red-brown colors, with many light transverse stripes. This is a needle fish, which can be a little more than 20 cm in length and weighs 5 kg. Her life expectancy is 5 years.
Needlefish prefer shallow water areas with lush vegetation. During the spawning period, the needlefish can enter freshwater bodies of water. It is found in the same Dnieper, and at a considerable distance from the sea. Freshwater fish do not change their habitat and are constantly in the same body of water. The needlefish feeds on bottom larvae, worms, crustaceans, plankton, and small fish. Its fry consume exclusively plankton. The fish's vision is very good, which helps it quickly find food.
Spawns from May to June. During the mating season, the female lays eggs not on seaweed, but in the male’s pouch, which is located on his tail. Fertilization also occurs there. In total, no more than 100 eggs are laid. In this case, the male’s pouch can contain eggs from different females at the same time. In total, during the mating season, the female can lay three portions of eggs, each containing 20 eggs.
The eggs, located in the male's pouch, do not come into contact with the external environment. The embryos are nourished by their blood. The needle fish larvae are in the male’s pouch until August. After this period, the placenta with the fry is separated from the bag and enters the water.
Igloo fish can be found in Black, Caspian, Seas of Azov. Its dwarf form lives in salty bays. Freshwater pipefish are found on the Volga, Dnieper and Terek. It also exists in the Kuibyshev Reservoir. It is possible that freshwater fish enter large reservoirs from the lower reaches of rivers. This fact is confirmed by the fact that the needle appeared in the reservoirs of Kuban.
Needle fish has no nutritional value. Its natural enemies are predatory fish.
