Flat-headed gudgeon
| Crazy fish | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
_by_M._L._Nievera_(colored).png) |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Eleotridae |
| Genus: | Butis |
| Species: | B. butis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Butis butis (F. Hamilton, 1822) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
|
Butis butis, the crazy fish, duckbill sleeper, or upside-down sleeper, is a species of sleeper goby that are native to brackish and freshwater coastal habitats of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean from the African coast to the islands of Fiji. They prefer well-vegetated waters and can frequently be found in mangrove swamps. They are small, drably-colored fish, reaching a maximum length of only 15 cm (5.9 in). They are predatory and are known for their behavior of swimming vertically – or even upside down – while hunting.
Crazy fish range in length from 69 to 155 mm (2.7 to 6.1 in) in length. The head is subcylindrical and flattened dorsoventrally, and slightly concave in the area between the tip of the snout to just behind the eyes. The mouth is very large, with a lower jaw extending past the upper jaw. Both contain multiple rows of tiny, bristle-like, sharp teeth. A pair of nostrils is present on each side of the snout (four in all) midway between the tip of the snout and the eyes. The front pair of nostrils is far smaller in size than the posterior pair. The relatively small eyes (about a sixth of the length of the head in diameter) are situated near the top of the head, but are oriented sidewise. They are gold and black in coloration. The body is strongly compressed laterally.
The dorsal fins are situated approximately in the middle of the body. The first dorsal fin (with five to six rays) is arched and originates from the highest point of the back of the fish. It has thinner rays than the second dorsal fin (with seven to eight rays). The short triangular ventral fins (each with five rays) are located considerably farther forward than all the other fins. The anal fin (with seven to nine rays) is located approximately directly below the second dorsal fin, and are roughly the same size and shape as the latter. The pair of pectoral fins (each with eighteen to twenty rays) are large and rounded. They extend past the anus, sometimes reaching the anal fins. The broad and rounded caudal fin has about twenty closely compacted rays.
...
Wikipedia