Ordinary ice fish , or pike-like whitefish , or common white pike [1] ( lat. Champsocephalus gunnari ) is a fish of the family of white-fish .
| Ice fish |
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| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Family: | White-blooded fish |
| Gender: | Great-toed Whitefish |
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| International scientific name |
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Champsocephalus gunnari Lönnberg , 1905 |
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The name “ice fish” (or simply “ice”) is sometimes used as the collective name of the entire family of whitefish (whitefish) or its other individual representatives (crocodile whitefish, whale whitefish, etc.). The name "sea pike" is also found, which is not entirely true, because this name was assigned to barracudas , a completely different family of fish.
It lives in the waters of Antarctica - around Antarctica and South America , endemic to this region.
Content
Even the Norwegian whalers in the 19th century said that in the distant Antarctic, near the South Georgia island in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, strange fish with colorless blood are found, which they christened “bloodless” and “ice”. However, this mystery of nature did not immediately attract the attention of skeptical scientists.
Scientific studies of these fish began only in 1954.
The scientific classification ( taxonomy ) was carried out by the Swedish zoologist Einar Lönberg in 1905.
A stamp issued in the USSR in 1978 dedicated to pike-like white blood
In the first dorsal fin - 7-10 flexible spiny rays, in the second dorsal fin - 35–41 segmented rays, in the anal fin - 35–40 segmented rays, in the pectoral fin - 25–28 rays, in the caudal fin 12 branching rays; in the lower part of the first branchial arch - 11-20 branchial stamens; the total number of vertebrae is 58–64 [2] .
The body is low (11-15% of the standard length of the body), sweeping. The rostral spine at the apex of the snout is absent. The top of the lower jaw is located on the same vertical line with the top of the upper jaw. The head is relatively high; its height is slightly greater than the length of the snout. The snout is relatively long — 34–48% of the length of the head. The mouth is large, the posterior edge of the upper jaw reaches the level of the anterior third of the orbit. The eye is relatively large; the diameter of the orbit is 16–26% of the length of the head. Interorbital space of moderate width (16-26% of the length of the head). The outer edges of the frontal bones above the eyes are even, without cranulation (not jagged) and not raised. Both dorsal fins are relatively low, touching their bases or barely separated by a very narrow inter-dorsal space. On the body there are two lateral lines (dorsal and medial) without bone segments. The ventral fins are of moderate length, the middle rays are the largest (16–20% of the standard body length), and do not reach the beginning of the base of the anal fin. The caudal fin is notched.
The general coloration of the body is silver-light gray, on the ventral side of the body is white. Head and back are dark. On the sides of the body there are irregular vertical dark stripes, among which 4 of the darkest stripes stand out. Dorsal, caudal, and anal fins dark or blackish in adult fish, light in young fish.
The range of the species is characterized as discontinuous, mainly confined to islands located at the northern border of the Antarctic convergence . It is found in West Antarctica near the island of South Georgia , Skal Shag , South Sandwich , South Orkney , South Shetland Islands , near Bouvet Island and the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula . In East Antarctica , the species range is limited to islands and banks of the Kerguelen submarine ridge - Kerguelen islands , Shchuchye, Skif, South banks and Heard and McDonalds islands . It was recorded at depths from the surface up to 700 m [2] [3] .
Large fish. In a population from South Georgia, it reaches a total length of 66 cm and a weight of up to 1-1.2 kg. The maximum fish size recorded at South Georgia was 69.5 cm of total length with a weight of 3.2 kg. In the area of the Kerguelen archipelago, the total fish length does not exceed 45 cm [2] [3] .
Ice - a valuable commercial fish. The weight of market icefish is from 100 g to 1 kg, and its length is 25–35 cm.
Fish meat contains a large amount of potassium, phosphorus, fluorine and other trace elements.
In Russia, for the taste and in connection with the remoteness and complexity of the mining region, it belongs to the “premium” price category. It is noteworthy that in the Soviet fishing industry belonged to the lower price category, along with blue whiting and pollock .
One of the advantages is the absence of an unpleasant specific fishy smell. This fish can be recommended to those people who can not tolerate it.
The meat is dense, tender, nonfat (2-8 g of fat per 100 g of weight) and low-calorie (80-140 kcal per 100 g). The protein content is about 17%. Almost boneless: the fish has only a ridge and does not contain costal bones and small bones. Yes, and the ridge itself, because it contains a small amount of calcium, is soft and almost edible (easily chewed due to its softness).
Gentle culinary processing of icefish is recommended: steaming or boiling. Connoisseurs of icefish believe that aspic from it is much tastier than from zander. Raw icefish dishes are popular in Japan.
Since squirrels live in the most environmentally friendly regions of the planet, they can be considered one of the cleanest fish, it is believed that they do not contain any harmful substances.
The genus Champsocephalus includes another species - pike whitefish , or Patagonian whitefish.
- ↑ Reshetnikov Yu.S. , Kotlyar A.N. , Russ T.S. , Shatunovsky M.I. The Bilingual Dictionary of Animal Names. Fish. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova . - M .: Rus. Yaz., 1989 .-- S. 327. - 12,500 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00237-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Iwami T., Kock K.-H. (1990): Channichthyidae - Icefishes. In: O. Gon, P. C. Heemstra (Eds) Fishes of the Southern Ocean. JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology. Grahamstown, South Africa, P. 381-399 .
- ↑ 1 2 Shust K.V. (1998): Fishes and fish resources of the Antarctic. M .: Publishing house VNIRO. 163 s
