Sandeels spawning again

Photos: Tiit Hunt
Translation: Liis
 
Lesser sandeel
 
  Lesser sandeel
Väike tobias
 Ammodytes tobianus    
 
  Greater sandeel
Suurtobias
 Hyperoplus lanceolatus    
 
It may look as if the sandeels spawn from autumn to spring. The females spawn both in spring and in autumn, in three stages, and so the spawning gets drawn out. The sandeels prefer sea areas strongly diluted with fresh water and they are most active during the morning and evening twilight. They move in small shoals; in that way it is easier to elude preying fish, by creating confusion with quick movements and burrowing down into the sea bed in less than half a second. Most of the day and the whole of the dark period is spent hidden in the sand. They feed on zooplankton and smaller animals on the seabed.
 
The lesser sandeel is quite numerous and so it has an important role in the food chain of fishes of prey living near the seabed.
 

The larger sandeel is bigger, as its name says, lives and moves in deeper waters and is a fish of prey, as shown by its mouth in Tiit’s photos. Its basic food is sprats and the lesser sandeel.

 
Greater sandeel


 

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