Houndfish

The houndfish was described as Belona crocodila by François Péron and Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1821 with the type locality given as Mauritius.{{Cof record|spid=13525|title=Belona crocodila|access-date=3 August 2019}}

Two subspecies of the houndfish were recognised:{{cite book | author = Bruce Baden Collette | year = 2003 | title = Family Belonidae Bonaparte 1832 needlefishes | work = Annotated Checklist of Fishes | volume = 16 | publisher = California Academy of Sciences | issn = 1545-150X| author-link = Bruce Baden Collette }}

• Tylosurus crocodilus crocodilus (Péron & Lesueur 1821)
• Tylosurus crocodilus fodiator Jordan & Gilbert 1882

However, Fishbase now recognises T.c. fodiator as a valid species, Tylosurus fodiator, the Mexican needlefish.{{FishBase genus|genus=Tylosurus|month=April|year=2019}}

A key way of distinguishing the houndfish from other members of the genus Tylosurus is that the houndfish's teeth point anteriorly when the fish is a juvenile. The teeth of other species are straight at all ages.Collette, B.B. 1999 Belonidae. Needlefishes. p. 2151–2161. In: K.E. Carpenter and V.H. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). FAO, Rome. The houndfish also has a more stout, cylindrical body and a shorter head than other needlefishes. Juvenile houndfish possess an elevated, black lobe on the posterior of their dorsal fins.

While the houndfish has no fin spines, its dorsal fin has 21–25 soft rays, and its anal fin has 19–22.{{FishBase|genus=Tylosurus|species=crocodilus|year=2009|month=03}} They are also known to have 80–86 vertebrae. They have dark blue backs and silver-white sides and are plain white ventrally.Collette, B.B. 1986 Belonidae p. 385–387. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. A houndfish has a distinct keel on the caudal peduncle, and the caudal fin itself is deeply forked.

The longest recorded houndfish was {{convert|150|cm|ft}},Sommer, C., W. Schneider and J.-M. Poutiers 1996 FAO species identification field guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of Somalia. FAO, Rome. 376 p. and the largest recorded weight was {{convert|6.35|kg|lb}}.IGFA 2001 Database of IGFA angling records until 2001. IGFA, Fort Lauderdale, USA.

File:NIEdot343.jpg]]

Houndfish are found throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, their range stretching from the Red Sea and the coast of South Africa, east to French Polynesia,Randall, J. E. and Y. H. Sinoto 1978 Rapan fish names. B. P. Bishop Mus. Occas. Pap. 24(15:294-306. towards Japan,Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino 1984 The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Vol. 1. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, Japan. 437 p. (text) and south to New South Wales, Australia.Fricke, R. 1999 Fishes of the Mascarene Islands (Réunion, Mauritius, Rodriguez): an annotated checklist, with descriptions of new species. Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein, Theses Zoologicae, Vol. 31: 759 p. The houndfish is replaced by its congener the Mexican needlefish in the eastern Pacific. Houndfish are known from New Jersey to Brazil in the west Atlantic,Robins, C. R. and G. C. Ray 1986 A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. and in the east, they are found from Fernando Poo, Cameroon, and Liberia to Ascension Island.Collette, B. B. and N. V. Parin 1990 Belonidae. p. 592–597. In J. C. Quero, J. C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2 Houndfish can also be found near Guinea, SenegalDiouf, P.S. 1996 Les peuplements de poissons des milieux estuariens de l'Afrique de l'Ouest: L'exemple de l'estuaire hyperhalin du Sine-Saloum. Université de Montpellier II. Thèses et Documents Microfiches No.156. ORSTOM, Paris. 267 p. and Cape Verde.Reiner, F. 1996 Catálogo dos peixes do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde. Publicações avulsas do IPIMAR No. 2. 339 p. It has been recorded in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, having moved from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal as part of the Lessepsian migration.{{cite journal | author1 = Barbara Zorica | author2 = Vanja Čikeš Keč | author3 = Armin Palloro | author4 = Kristijan Zanki | author5 = Goran Brzulja | author6 = Viktor Kraljević | display-authors = 3 | year = 2016 | title = First record of agujon needlefish, Tylosurus acus imperialis (Rafinesque, 1810) (Osteichthyes: Belonidae) in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/239285 | journal = Acta Adriatica | volume = 57 | issue = 1 | pages = 183–186}}

A pelagic animal,Claro, R. 1994 Características generales de la ictiofauna. pp. 55–70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo. houndfish can be found over lagoons and seaward reefs either as individuals or small groups, where they feed mainly on smaller fishes.Thollot, P. 1996 Les poissons de mangrove du lagon sud-ouest de Nouvelle-Calédonie. ORSTOM Éditions, Paris. Houndfish lay eggs which attach themselves to objects in the water via tendrils on the surface of each egg.Breder, C. M. and D. E. Rosen 1966 Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.

File:Hound 600.jpg

Houndfish are considered to be gamefish, and can be caught by use of artificial lights in a similar manner to other needlefishes. Although houndfish are considered good to eat and usually sold fresh, the market for them is small because their flesh has a greenish colour similar to that of the flat needlefish.Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A. J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J. M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez 1992 Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de SAmérica. FAO, Rome. p. 513. Preparado con el financiamento de la Comisión de Comunidades Europeas y de NORAD. The IGFA world record stands at 4.88 kg (10 lbs 12 oz) and was caught off Goulding Cay, Bahamas in 2013 by angler Daniel John Leonard using a live pilchard as bait.{{cite web |title=IGFA WORLD RECORD |url=http://wrec.igfa.org/WRecDetail.aspx?uid=38573&cn=Houndfish#.XBguzbaZMcg |website=igfa.org |publisher=International Game Fish Association |accessdate=17 December 2018}}

Houndfish are considered to be dangerous, and are feared by fishermen because of their size and tendency to leap out of the water, causing puncture wounds with their beaks, when frightened or attracted to the lights used to catch them. In April 2000, a woman snorkeling in the Florida Keys was severely injured when she was stabbed in the neck by a houndfish that leapt out of the water.{{cite web |url= http://www.sptimes.com/News/041900/State/Leaping_houndfish_sta.shtml |title= Leaping houndfish stabs teen in neck |last1= Danielson |first1= Richard |date=19 April 2000 |website= sptimes.com |publisher= |accessdate=27 December 2014}} In October, 2010 an ocean-kayaker was injured when she was struck in the back (and was treated for a collapsed lung) by the beak of a houndfish that jumped out of the water near her boat.{{cite web |url= http://www.newser.com/story/103282/beware-houndfish-they-stab-people.html |title= Beware Houndfish: They Stab People |last1= McMaster |first1= Nick |date=19 Oct 2010 |website= Newser.com |publisher= |accessdate=16 January 2014}} In 2024, a tourist named Giulia Manfrini was killed in the in the Mentawai islands by a houndfish that struck her in the chest.{{Cite web |last=Gawley |first=Paige |date=21 October 2024 |title=Surfer Dead After Being Impaled by Swordfish in Freak Accident |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/surfer-dead-after-being-impaled-by-swordfish-in-freak-accident/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=24 October 2024 |title=36-year-old surfer dies after being impaled by sharp-billed fish |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/23/giulia-manfrini-surfer-impaled-fish-indonesia/ |website=The Washington Post}}{{Cite web |date=21 October 2024 |title=Indonesia: Surfer dies after 'swordfish impales chest' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgng8nm416o |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

{{Reflist|2}}

{{commons category|Tylosurus crocodilus}}

• [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20o?search=Tylosurus+crocodilus Discoverlife.org]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120607003433/http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/T/Tylosurus_crocodilus/ zipcodezoo]
• [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=165577 ITIS]
• [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=977 Fishbase on T. c. crocodilus]
• [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=13570 Fisbase on T. c. fodiator]
• [http://www.whatsthatfish.com/fish/crocodile-needlefish/956 WhatsThatFish.com]
• [https://archive.today/20130104010926/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39726687 Leaping fish spears kayaker off Florida Keys: 10/18/10]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3278635}}

Category:Tylosurus

Category:Pantropical fish

Category:Taxa named by François Péron

Category:Taxa named by Charles Alexandre Lesueur

Category:Fish described in 1821