Boarfish

Identification

The boarfish is a small, strikingly laterally compressed fish of 10-18 cm (maximum 30 cm) with a deep, disc-shaped body. Most characteristic is the protrusible, tubular snout resembling a pig's snout — giving the species its name. Color is pink to orange with a silvery belly. The eyes are relatively large.

Ecology

Lives in large schools at 100-400 meters depth in the eastern Atlantic. Feeds on small planktonic crustaceans sucked in through the tubular mouth. In some years, enormously abundant in deep waters west of Ireland and in the Bay of Biscay.

In the Netherlands

A rare deep-water species occasionally found in the deeper North Sea. No commercial or angling significance in Dutch waters.