Wolf eel
Encyclopedia
The wolf eel is a member of the family
Anarhichadidae
together with the wolffishes of the genus
Anarhichas. The wolf eel is monotypic
within the genus Anarrhichthys. This superficially eel-like fish feeds on crustacean
s, sea urchin
s, mussel
s, clam
s and some fish
es, crushing them with its strong jaws. It can grow to be 203 centimetres (79.9 in), 18.6 kilograms (41 lb), and is found in the northern Pacific Ocean
, ranging from the Sea of Japan
and the Aleutian Islands to northern California
. The wolf eel makes its home on rocky reef
s or stony bottom shelves from shallow to moderate depths, picking a territory in a crevice, den or lair in the rocks.
Large wolf eels are curious and friendly and are rarely aggressive but are capable of inflicting painful bites on humans. They have edible, tasty white meat. Milton Love notes, "They are good to eat and some northwest Native American tribes reserved this species for tribal healers."
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Anarhichadidae
Anarhichadidae
The wolffish are a family, Anarhichadidae, of perciform fish. They are native to cold waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where they live on the continental shelf and slope, to depths of about . They are bottom-feeders, eating hard-shelled invertebrates such as clams, echinoderms...
together with the wolffishes of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Anarhichas. The wolf eel is monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
within the genus Anarrhichthys. This superficially eel-like fish feeds on crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, sea urchin
Sea urchin
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
s, mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s, clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s and some fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es, crushing them with its strong jaws. It can grow to be 203 centimetres (79.9 in), 18.6 kilograms (41 lb), and is found in the northern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, ranging from the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
and the Aleutian Islands to northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The wolf eel makes its home on rocky reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s or stony bottom shelves from shallow to moderate depths, picking a territory in a crevice, den or lair in the rocks.
Large wolf eels are curious and friendly and are rarely aggressive but are capable of inflicting painful bites on humans. They have edible, tasty white meat. Milton Love notes, "They are good to eat and some northwest Native American tribes reserved this species for tribal healers."