6/10/2023 0 Comments Wolf eel habitat![]() ![]() But don’t call them wolf fish – that’s something else. To me, wolf eels resemble the face of an old man who spent a little too much time under the sun, died, and then reanimated as a zombie.įound to depths of 740 feet in the North Pacific from Japan to Southern California, wolf eels are neither wolf nor eel. But without a doubt, wolf eels ( Anarrhichthys ocellatus) rank in the top five. Having scientifically identified thousands upon thousands of fish at sea in the North Pacific, it’s still quite hard for me to pick my top contenders. So many, in fact, this is a frequent topic of debate among divers, scientists, and late-night TV hosts. Which one is the ugliest? Well, it’s really hard to say. Two of the wolf eels moved from the Elliott Bay window to the Underwater Dome one moved from the Rocky Reef area to the Elliott Bay window.There are a lot of ugly fish in the sea. *Why were the animals moving into new exhibits? “They’d grown big enough to safely explore new environments,” says Dr. The average for humans is at least double that, between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Hadfield examined had average heart rates of about 30 beats per minute. ![]() They’re trying to communicate, we just have to understand what they’re saying,” she adds. “I proceed with care, observing the animal’s reactions the entire time. “With these animals, I start cautiously and work from the ‘safe’ end,” she says. Hadfield made after a lot of observation. “In fact, the female was calm enough that we could collect a blood sample and look in her mouth.”Ĭonsidering their powerful teeth and jaws, examining a wolf eel’s mouth with a hand protected only by gloves could look like a risky choice-but it’s one that Dr. “The female was much calmer-the males kept squirming,” laughs Dr. The checkups for all three animals, a female and two males, were successful and didn’t raise any concerns. “We don’t want to transfer our bacteria and other organisms to the fish, and vice versa,” she says, “because they’re very different.” Gloves also protect the eel’s mucus layer and the skin underneath. Hadfield wears them when caring for animals at the Aquarium. Just as your doctor might wear gloves during your medical exam, Dr. “That’s why routine exams are important-especially in a place like the Aquarium, with such a big diversity of animals.” Wolf eel fast fact:Įven though the experts who care for these animals can tell them apart just by looking at them, they’re also PIT-tagged (PIT stands for passive integrated transponder), just like a microchip on a pet cat or dog. “We use these opportunities to check that animals are doing well and to better understand what is normal for each species,” Dr. The health checks done during the moves are an important part of the veterinary program. Like all animals at the Aquarium, they are closely observed by Aquarium staff every day. And, completely unlike the water that might collect in your cooler from melting ice, the water in this cooler was pulled from the wolf eel’s habitat. Hadfield checks the ultrasound image on the computer screen.ĭoes the container around the wolf eel look familiar? That’s because it’s a cooler-just like one that you might take camping (or for a really big picnic), but customized for aquatic animal care with an air bubbler. So you could think of wolf eels as relatively small animals with really, really long tails! Dr. Wolf eel fast fact:Ī wolf eel’s body cavity is close to its head. ![]() Her exams might include elements such as checking the animal’s liver size, determining its sex by the presence of testes or ovaries (and seeing how developed these organs are), checking heart rate and more. Hadfield uses ultrasound imaging in a variety of ways. Hadfield uses an ultrasound to look at the wolf eel’s body cavity.ĭr. ECZM, worked with Aquarium staff aquarists to do routine health checks. And recently, when three of our resident wolf eels were being relocated into new habitats, senior veterinarian Caitlin Hadfield, Vet MB Dipl. Just like people, the animals at the Aquarium benefit from expert care, including regular medical exams. ![]()
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