Appearance and lifestyle:
Black musselcracker (poenskop) (Cymatoceps nasutus) have powerful jaws with a set of impressive teeth – 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. The Afrikaans name, “poenskop”, means “skinhead”. They are a greyish black colour, and juveniles are greenish brown with white blotches. They are slow growers 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.