^ Beamish, RJ McFarlane, GA Benson, A (2006).Wolf Eel at the Wayback Machine (archived July 20, 2011) Marine Species with Aquaculture Potential. ^ a b c d 'Wolf-eel, Reefs & Pilings, Fishes, Anarrhichthys ocellatus at the Monterey Bay Aquarium'.^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds.^ a b c d e f Froese, Rainer Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2016).

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021'. Only the tribal healers were allowed to eat this fish, as it was supposed to enhance their healing powers. In some coastal northwest Native American tribes, the wolf eel was referred to as the sacred 'doctorfish'. The wolf eel has edible, sweet and savory white flesh. The eggs and juveniles can be threatened by more species, as they are not very large and don't have powerful jaws-many fish such as rockfish and kelp greenling will go after them. The adult's predators are sharks, big fish and harbor seals. It has been observed in captivity that when they are fed soft food such as squid, they tend to prefer it over hard food, which can damage the back teeth. This eel-like fish feeds on invertebrates with hard shells ( crustaceans, sea urchins, mussels, clams) and some fishes, crushing them with its strong jaws. The male and female may pair for life and inhabit a cave together the two watch their eggs together and one always stays behind when the other leaves to feed. Large wolf eels are curious and are rarely aggressive, but are capable of inflicting painful bites on humans. Ecology Distribution ДЄ pair of wolf eel with eggs (pale yellowish) The eggs will hatch after 91 to 112 days and during this period, in order to ensure correct circulation of water around the eggs to keep them supplied with oxygen, the female periodically massages and rotates them as they develop. They both equally protect their eggs and only one at a time leaves the cave to feed. Later, they coil around them and use her body to shape the eggs into a neat sphere roughly the size of a grapefruit, the male then coils around her to add an extra layer of protection. The male puts his head against the female's abdomen and wraps around her, while she extrudes the eggs (she can lay up to 10,000 at a time) which he then fertilizes. They reproduce from October until the end of winter starting from when they are around seven years old. They have a monogamous relationship and tend to mate for life and live in the same cave. The lifespan of this species is about 20 years. Males have large lips and a protuberance on the superior part of the head. It has no pelvic fins, nor a lateral line. It only has one dorsal fin, that extends from the head to the end of the body, with 228 to 250 flexible fishbones without soft radius. InВ the anal fin, it has no rays and 233 radials. They possess powerful jaws with which they crush their prey: canine teeth in the front and molars in the posterior portion of the mouth.

Once older they turn grey, brown greyish or dark olive. Younger wolf eels are orange with big dark spots in the posterior part of the body. The animal can grow up to 2.4В m (7В ft 10В in) in length and 18.4В kg (41В lb) in weight. ocellatus differs from true eels, as they have paired gill slits and pectoral fins.

Wolf eel food