Barbeled Dragonfish Essay

Barbeled Dragonfish

Scientific Name: Grammastomias flagellibarba

Common Names: Deep Sea Dragon fish, Scaleless Dragonfish The barbled dragonfish is a deep sea fish located at depths of 5000 feet (Deep Sea Dragonfish. (n.d.)). The barbled dragonfish also has a size range of growing between 4 and 6 inches (Deep Sea Dragonfish. (n.d.)). They inhabit tropical ocean regions (Deep Sea Dragonfish. (n.d.)). They have unique structures to them that they are known for like their large sharp teeth with a protruding jaw and a long thread-like expansion from their epidermal layer at the base of their chin called a barbel (Spinal gap of barbeled dragonfishes mystery solved, 17 August 2010). There are 28 genera and more than 292 different species of dragonfishes (STOMIIDAE, in Fishes of Australia, 2012). One of the Genus is Opostomias which has two known species, Opostomia micriprius

The eggs are all different according to the species. Some have round planktonic eggs, unknown eggs and also large, long eggs. The process of fertilization is a mystery due to its habitat being so deep and below sea level, but it is believed that the female release her eggs into the water and waits for a male to fertilize it. The process then continues by the eggs floating to the surface until the day they hatch. Osmoregulation involves the regulation of osmotic pressure within the internal environment of an organism. This mainly consist of maintenance of fluid balance and concentration of salts to prevent internal solutions from becoming heavily concentrated or heavily diluted. So by my own assumption, their osmotic control must be very specific. This is said due to the exact depth that they thrive in, the temperature and how heavily concentrated the brine must be at that depth. So they must have a complex osmoregulatory