Fish

Vent eelpout

Thermarces cerberus

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 2,300 to 2,630 m

Size

Up to about 40 cm

Diet

Limpets, amphipods, sometimes worms

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• This fish lives among the giant tube worms and mussels of the hot vents of the East Pacific Rise.
• A single stomach can hold more than 100 small prey, mostly limpets and amphipods.
• By eating the grazing snails, it may indirectly help the tube worms.
• Its populations renew themselves very slowly: it takes 4.5 to 14 years for them to double.

Verified sources

1. FishBase, Thermarces cerberus
2. Sancho et al. 2005, Deep-Sea Research I (Stanford)

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Eyeless vent shrimpRimicaris exoculata Deep-reef white coralDesmophyllum pertusum (formerly Lophelia pertusa) Azores vent musselBathymodiolus azoricus MonkfishLophius piscatorius Bird’s nest spongePheronema carpenteri Pink abyssal sea cucumberAmperima rosea