Fish

Atlantic vent eelpout

Pachycara thermophilum

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 2,300 to 3,500 m, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Size

Up to about 39 cm

Diet

Carnivorous, its exact diet is still poorly known

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It was described in 1994 from fish caught at 3,480 m, at the Snake Pit hydrothermal site.
• A fish from the Rainbow site was first described as a different species. Genetics later showed it was the same fish.
• Like many deep-sea fish, its population renews itself slowly: it needs at least 4 to 14 years to double.

Verified sources

1. FishBase, Pachycara thermophilum
2. Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences), Pachycara thermophilum
3. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2007, Pachycara thermophilum et P. saldanhai synonymes
4. FishBase, Pachycara saldanhai (site Rainbow)

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Long-rostrum shrimpAlvinocaris longirostris Methane musselGigantidas childressi (formerly Bathymodiolus childressi) Centenarian tubewormLamellibrachia luymesi Vent octopusVulcanoctopus hydrothermalis Bone-eating snailRubyspira osteovora Methane ice wormSirsoe methanicola (formerly Hesiocaeca methanicola)