Appearance and lifestyle:
Black musselcracker (poenskop) (Cymatoceps nasutus) has powerful jaws and an impressive set of teeth: four cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw, six in the lower jaw, and two rows of rounded molars in each jaw. The Afrikaans name “poenskop” means “skinhead”. Adults are a greyish-black colour, while juveniles are greenish brown with white blotches. They are slow-growing and can reach the age of 45years.
Habitat:
They can be found on rocky reefs at 100m deep.
Diet:
They use these teeth to crush starfish, sea urchins, crabs and chitons.
Threats:
Overfishing, habitat loss, climate change etc.
(Photo: Geoff Spiby)
Has four cone-shaped teeth in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw, as well as two rows of rounded molars in each jaw.
Adults are territorial benthic predators.
At 70cm females change sex to males.