Animalia Life

Hemiramphus far
FAMILY
Hemiramphidae
TAXONOMY
Esox far Forsskеl, 1775, Luhaiya, Yemen, Red Sea.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Blackbarred garfish; French: Aiguillette, demi-bec bagnard.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Maximum length 17.7 in (45 cm). Lower jaw beaklike and dramatically longer than upper jaw; color is bluish dorsally and silvery on sides, with three to nine vertical bars. Dorsal and anal fins posteriorly situated, lower lobe of caudal fin longer than upper.
DISTRIBUTION
Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa, from northern Australia and New Caledonia to the Ryukyu Islands. Has entered the eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.
HABITAT
Marine; near vegetation in coastal areas.
BEHAVIOR
Forms schools.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds mostly on sea grasses, in addition to green algae and diatoms.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Spawns in estuaries.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Commercially fished, said to have good-tasting flesh, sometimes used as bait.

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