Once settled, these animals are territorial and males will fight one another for space, or sometimes females. Wolf eels are known to be highly attentive parents, with both parents invested in nurturing and caring for their eggs. It is here they act like old romantics, wooing their partners and settling down in a rocky lair to live out their days. As they age, their skin darkens and they begin looking for a place to settle on the seafloor. With their bright orange skin and slender head and body, they most closely resemble eels at this stage of their life. One juvenile was even documented traveling 1,000 km from British Columbia to Washington over two years. As juveniles, wolf eels are like lone wolves drifting with the ocean currents and hanging out near the top of the water column. Wolf eels are one of the rare creatures on Earth that finds a partner and mates for life, in most cases. © Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society Some say they have a face “only a mother could love,” and while they may startle us with their bulbous fleshy heads and massive daunting jaws, wolf eels are known to be curious and even friendly to divers. Instead, they are part of the Anarhichadidae family, which is a group known as the “wolf fishes.” These animals inhabit the cool waters of the northern Pacific, ranging from the Sea of Japan and Aleutian islands to Southern California, making a home in rocky reefs and stony bottoms. However, they are neither wolf nor true eel. With elongated slender bodies, large heads and intimidating jaws, wolf eels were named for their superficial resemblance to eels and wolves. Retrieved May 24 th, 2011, from within the cracks and crevices of the Pacific coasts rocky reefs lies two lovers in hiding. Retrieved May 24 th, 2011 from Zaheer Kanji (December 2001). Pacific fishes of Canada Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Young and Mature Wolf Eel photo kindly provided by Erik Schauff The parents will closely guard their offspring for a period of around sixteen weeks, until at last they hatch. Females can produce up to an astounding ten thousand eggs at once. The male will court his female first by bumping his head up against her abdomen, then enveloping her entirely with his long slender body. These creatures seek out their partners at four years of age, but will not reproduce until around seven. Wolf Eels are unique in the way they go about their lives because (despite how they may initially appear) they are in fact quite the romantics- they mate for life. Its jaw is designed especially for mowing down on hard-shelled creatures such as crustaceans, mussels, clams, sea urchins, snails, and some other fish.Īlthough full-grown Wolf Eels have next to no predators (save the occasional harbor seal), their eggs often fall prey to rockfish and Kelp Greenlings. The Wolf Eel is a rather intimidating-looking carnivore, adapted perfectly to suit its murky environment. The deepest a Wolf Eel has ever been uncovered is 225 meters below the surface. It tends to keep to shallow to medium depth waters, making its home in the hollows between rocks, which oftentimes look as though they would not be able to fit its wide head. The Wolf Eel has been found to live anywhere from Japan to the islands of Racerocks off of British Columbia’s coast. The wolf eel’s dorsal fin extends from its head to the tip of its sleek body its pectoral fins, located at the base of the head, are large and rounded. Juveniles are a startling orange marked with dark orange splotches. It is easy to differentiate between male and female wolf eels the males tend to have larger, more grotesque heads, whereas the females possess a smaller jaw and are often darker in colour. These dots may differ in size and colour depending on the individual and its gender, and are frequently surrounded by a light ring. The adult Wolf Eel ranges from light brown to dark gray in colour, with a long, dot-covered body. Sometimes referred to as the “Ugly old man of the sea,” the Wolf Eel has a bulbous head with a strong jaw and sharp teeth.
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