Animalia Life

Kraemeria samoensis
FAMILY
Kraemeriidae
TAXONOMY
Kraemeria samoensis Steindachner, 1906, Samoan Islands.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Sand dart; Afrikaans: sandspies.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Small, elongate fish, reaches 1.4 in (3.5 cm) total length. Lacks scales. Head with minute eyes, and a “chinlike” forward projection of the lower jaw. Six or seven small flaps project from the lower edge of the preoperculum, just behind the mouth, and five or six flaps project from the lower edge of the operculum covering the gills. There is a single, long, dorsal fin, and a long anal fin. Specimens from the Indian Ocean have fewer opercular flaps than those from the Pacific, and might represent a different species.
DISTRIBUTION
The Indo-Pacific region, from East Africa to the Society Islands.
HABITAT
Buries into loose coral sand in inshore areas where there is strong wave action.
BEHAVIOR
Nothing known.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds on polychaetes.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nothing known.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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