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The crocodile fish can be seen in the
waters of the Red Sea. The scientific name of this fish is
Cymbacephalus beauforti and he is also known as the De
Beaufort's flathead. The crocodile fish together with the stone
fishes and the scorpion fishes is included in the
Scorpaeniformes order. The crocodile fish has iris lappets in
their eyes, projections that help the fish`s black pupil to
break up and, in this way, to make a better camouflage. As a
flathead species, from the Platycephalidae family, the crocodile
fish has not only the iris lappets but also a concave head
margin and a distinct pit behind his eyes. Other flathead
species are the Fringe-eye Flathead and the Tasselsnout
Flathead. Although this fish is 54 centimeters long, he has an
amazing ability of camouflage, being very hard to be seen from
the seabed where he stays and waits to ambushes his prey. The
crocodile fish is a predatory fish that lives on the water's
bottom but he also can be seen on rubble bottoms, on sandy
bottoms, in the vicinity of corals, of mangroves or in the sea
grass` vicinity. He is a carnivorous fish, eating other fish,
crustaceans that have to be small enough to enter in his mouth.
Despite his appearance of a small crocodile, the crocodile fish
is not at all an aggressive fish but a docile marine creature.
This fish prefers the depths between 1 meter and 30 meters or
even more. He can be seen in the waters of Papua New Guinea,
Philippines, and New Caledonia - from the Western Pacific. In
Egypt, the crocodile fish can be met in the warm waters of the
Red Sea, in the dive sites from the Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada
(like Small Giftun Island or Abu Nuhas Reef). |
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