Ploughfish

The ploughfish (Gymnodraco acuticeps) is a species of Antarctic dragonfish native to the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

The head is marked with small spots and the body with dark blotches, although these may fade over time.

[5] The ploughfish is found in the Southern Ocean and has been recorded from the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and the continental shelf of Antarctica, it probably has a circum-Antarctic range.

[4] Ploughfish spawn during September off Adélie Land and hatching probably occurs in the Spring as larvae with a length of 16 mm (0.63 in) were collected in the Bransfield Strait in mid-November and juveniles have been taken as bycatch in krill catches in February and March.

Studies of diet have found that off the South Shetland ISlands they ate only the krill species Euphasia superba but in McMurdo Sound their diet was more varied and included mostly fish, with amphipods being the next most important food type, then fish eggs and then polychaetes.