Greater sand eel
Encyclopedia
The greater sand eel or launce is the greater species of sand eel
Sand Eel
Sand eel or sandeel is the common name used for a considerable number of species of fish. Most of them are sea fish of the genera Hyperoplus , Gymnammodytes or Ammodytes...

. The maximum sixe is 35 cm. Common sand eel have an elongated body
Body
With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...

, with a rounded cross section. It has a long pointed head
Head
In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....

, and a protruding lower jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...

. Its upper jaw, however is not entirely protrusible, this thus makes it unable to form a tube. A monocle "toooth-shaped" structure can be found at the front of the palate
Palate
The palate is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but, in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separate. The palate is divided into two parts, the anterior...

. The scales on the body can not form a chrevon pattern. The skin ridge running the lengths of the sides of the body, spread as far as ⅓ of the base of the anal fin. Low and Long set dorsal fins, consist of between 52 to 61 rays. The anal fin is about half te size of the dorsal fin, and more thick in height
Height
Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"...

. The pectoral fins are diminutive, with absent pelvic fins. Color ranges from a lime
Lime (color)
Lime, also traditionally known as lime green or lime-green, is a color three-quarters of the way between yellow and green , so named because it is a representation of the color of the citrus fruit called limes...

 color on the back and upper sides to the bright silver on the lower sides and the belly
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

. There's also a specific black smudge between the eyes and the snout
Snout
The snout, or muzzle, is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw.-Terminology:The term "muzzle", used as a noun, can be ambiguous...

, which is about the same size as the diameter of the eye.

Breeding occurs through between March into August.

It is to be found from the lower water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 mark down to over 100 m, typically over clean and sandy substances.

It feeds on plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...

, fish larvae, and a vast range of crustaceans.

It ranges all over the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

.

Corbin's sand-eel is very similar to the greater sand eel, by the way that it lacks a protrusible upper jaw and its similar size. Although, it can be distinguished by the lack of the black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

spot on the snout, but it does have a black chin. Its dorsal fins has 59 to 62 rays. The overall color is darker than the other sand-eels, is found offshore, and tends to lie more on the western side of the U.K.

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