Tenpounder

Type: Marine Fish
Title: Tenpounder
Common Name: Tenpounder
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Teleostei
Order: Elopiformes
Family: Elopidae
Genus: Elops
Species: Elops machnata
Short Description: Fisheries: commercial; gamefish. Predator of small fish and crustaceans,plays a role in coastal food webs. Changes in estuarine and lagoon habitats may affect its population dynamics, potentially influencing local ecological balance.
Habitat: Marine; brackish; estuaries and hypersaline lagoons; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (migrates within ocean waters).
Reproduction Details: Occurs in coastal waters, but enters lagoons and estuaries. [actual freshwater records remain to be confirmed]. Benthopelagic. Young and adults feed on small fishes and crustaceans . Probably spawn at sea, but the transparent larvae migrate to inshore areas and are often found in brackish water. Are voracious carnivores that take fish, squid and shrimp bait . Edible, but not tasty and full of bones. A total length of 126 cm for this species has been reported from Knysna, South Africa.

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