Silver scabbardfish

{{Speciesbox

| image =Drawing_of_Lepidopus_caudatus_from_The_Royal_Natural_History_(1896).jpg

| status= DD

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite journal | author = Iwamoto, T. | year = 2015 | title = Lepidopus caudatus | journal = The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | volume = 2015 | page = e.T198721A42691759 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T198721A42691759.en | doi-access = free }}

| taxon = Lepidopus caudatus

| authority = (Euphrasen, 1788)

| synonyms = *Trichiurus caudatus Euphrasen, 1788

Lepidopus argenteus Bonnaterre, 1788
Trichiurus ensiformis Vandelli, 1797
Lepidopus gouanianus Lacepède, 1800
Trichiurus gladius Holten, 1802
Vandellius lusitanicus Shaw, 1803
Scarcina argyrea Rafinesque, 1810
Lepidopus peronii Risso, 1810
Ziphotheca tetradens Montagu, 1811
Lepidopus xantusi Goode & Bean, 1896
Lepidopus lex Phillipps, 1932

}}

The silver scabbardfish (Lepidopus caudatus), also known as the frostfish or beltfish is a benthopelagic cutlassfish of the family Trichiuridae found throughout the temperate seas of the world. It grows to over {{convert|2|m}} in length.

File:4558a - Spadole al mercato di Ortigia, Siracusa - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 20 marzo 2014.jpg

Behaviour

Lepidopus caudatus is known to strand itself in winter months, likely due to being caught in currents when the fish migrate closer to shore for spawning.{{citeq|Q114871191|pp=214-217}}

In a human context

Lepidopus caudatus is a traditional food for the Māori people of New Zealand, known by the name {{lang|mi|pāra}}. The fish was not typically caught, but eaten as a supplementary food when schools washed ashore, especially common around Moeraki in Otago. Māori traditionally believed that strandings were caused by the fish chasing the Moon, while early European settlers believed that frostfish purposefully chose to end their lives by stranding themselves.

References

{{FishBase| genus = Lepidopus | species = caudatus | month = January | year = 2006}}
Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) {{ISBN|0-00-216987-8}}

Category:Trichiuridae

Category:Fish described in 1788