Animalia Life

Echiichthys vipera
FAMILY
Trachinidae
TAXONOMY
Echiichthys vipera Cuvier, 1829, northern England. Originally described as Trachinus vipera but given its own genus in 1861 by Bleeker.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Lesser weeverfish, adder pike, black fin, little weever.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Small, elongate, and compressed, with a large, oblique mouth; small, dorsally placed eyes; and a strong, grooved opercular spine bearing a venom gland. Two dorsal fins, the first with five to eight strong spines with anterolateral grooves bearing venom glands and the second long and directly opposed to the anal fin. Distinguished from other
FAMILY
members by fringed lips, a second dorsal fin with 21–24 segmented rays, an anal fin with one spine and 24–26 segmented rays, and rounded pectoral fins. Has about 60 lateral line scales. Coloring is brown dorsally, mottled with darker spots, and pale ventrally. The first dorsal fin is black; the caudal fin is pale with a dusky tip. Grows to 6 in (15 cm).
DISTRIBUTION
Eastern North Atlantic Ocean, including the Azores, and the Mediterranean Sea.
HABITAT
Inshore on sand, mud, or gravel, to 500 ft (150 m), in winter.
BEHAVIOR
During the day hides buried in substrate, with only the eyes and first dorsal fin exposed; becomes more active at night, when it feeds.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds chiefly on crustaceans and fishes.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds June to August, spawning planktonic eggs 0.04–0.06 in (1–1.4 mm) in diameter.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Because of the venomous spines and its inshore, bottomdwelling habits, it poses a hazard to swimmers. Shrimp fishermen sometimes capture them in their nets and need to handle them carefully. This species is too small for commercial fishery and is taken mostly as incidental catch.

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