Appearance and lifestyle:
Beaked sandfish (Gonorynchus gonorynchus) are slender, elongated fish with cylindrical bodies and fins placed far back on their bodies. Their pointed snouts end in a sharp barbel and their mouths face downward, rather than forward. Note how big their eyes are – this is a sign that they are nocturnal hunters.
Beaked sandfish use their hard-pointed snouts to burrow in the sand, where they hide out during the day. At night they come out to hunt.
Habitat:
Beaked sandfish are most commonly found on the continental shelf of Southern Africa, ranging from the Skeleton Coast to Mozambique, with isolated populations on the coast of Japan, Australia and Chile.
Diet:
Beaked sandfish eat invertebrates, worms, small crustaceans and molluscs.
Threats:
Climate change, pollution, bycatch etc.