Name: Old wife
Scientific Name: Enoplosus armatus (White, 1790)
Family: Enoplosidae
Group: Bony fish
Class: Fish
Size: 26-50 cm.
Called "old wife" in English, this fish owes its name to the fact that, when captured, it grinds its teeth, making sounds like those of an old woman. The old wife is the only member of this family, being easy to recognise by the typical zebra pattern of the adult individuals. It is a territorial fish that lives in coastal reefs but while young, or even adult in the mating season, hides out in marine grass prairies and estuaries. It has got poisonous dorsal thorns whose stings are extremely painful. To nourish itself, it "filters" large quantities of sand, feeding on small crustaceans and zooplankton it finds in the sand it stirs.
Photo by:
Abílio Leitão
South Australian Fish
