Find a Fish
Cohen's Rattail
Nezumia coheni Iwamoto & Merrett, 1997
A Cohen's Rattail trawled by K. Graham on FRV Kapala from a depth between 960 m and 988 m, east of Newcastle, New South Wales, October 1983 (AMS I.24181-003, K83-13-02). View larger image.
Cohen's Rattail has a tall, short-based dorsal fin, a long, low anal fin and a long tapering tail that lacks a caudal fin. It has a pointed snout, a small barbel on the tip of the lower jaw, and scales that are covered with rows of small spines.
There is a light-producing organ in the body wall that is visible externally as a black, scaleless area (a dermal window) between the bases of the pelvic fins.
This species grows to at least 40 cm in length.
It has been caught in trawls at depths between 170 m and 1032 m.
Cohen's Rattail is recorded from Australia, New Caledonia and the Kermadec Islands.
In Australia it is known from marine waters of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Related links
- View low res movie clip of a Rattail - wmv (80k), Quicktime (192k)
- View high res movie clips on the movies page
- View the Rattails list
Further reading
- Iwamoto, T. & K.J. Graham. 2001. Grenadiers (Families Bathygadidae and Macrouridae, Gadiformes, Pisces) of New South Wales, Australia. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 52 (21): 407-509.
