Life habits and nutritional value of stone cone stingray

The spiny loach (Mastacembelus aculeatus) belongs to the order Perciformes, the suborder Mastacembelus, the family Mastacembelus, and the genus Mastacembelus. Commonly known as: steel loach, knife loach, stone cone. English name: Spiny eel.

The body is slender, the front end is slightly flattened laterally, and the back of the anus is flattened and thin. The head is long and pointed. The snout is slightly longer, but not as long as the head behind the eyes. The tip of the snout extends forward to form a snout, the length of which is approximately equal to the diameter of the eye. The anterior nares are tubular, located on both sides of the snout; the posterior nares are round, close to the edge of the eye. The eyes are located on the upper side of the head, and are covered with thin skin. There is a small inverted thorn in front of the eye, buried in the skin. The mouth is in the lower position, the mouth cleft is almost triangular, and the corner of the mouth reaches the edge of the eye or slightly exceeds it. The upper and lower jaws have villous teeth arranged in a band. The pectoral fins are small and round, with no pelvic fins, and the dorsal and anal fins are connected to the caudal fin respectively. There is a row of independent hard spines in front of the dorsal fin, with about 31-33 spines; the anal fin has 3 spines; the caudal fin is slightly pointed. The body scales are small and the lateral line is not obvious. The back of the body is yellowish brown and the abdomen is light yellow. There are two light lines on the head from the eyes back, extending longitudinally along the back of the body to the base of the tail fin. There are many reticulated patterns on the back and ventral sides of the body. The reticulated patterns at the base of the dorsal fin, anal fin and caudal fin are more obvious. There are more than 30 brown vertical stripes on the side of the body. The upper ends of the stripes on some individuals are darker in color, and the stripes on the ventral side of some individuals are interspersed with short spots. The base of the dorsal spine is dark brown, the pectoral fin is light yellow or grayish yellow, the other fins are gray, and the lower edge of the anal fin is often decorated with a white edge.

It is a benthic fish. Lives in shallow water areas with many aquatic plants. It feeds on aquatic insects and other small fish, and its reproductive period is around July.

Distributed in various river systems in the eastern part of the country. The individuals are not large, generally less than 25 centimeters in length, but they are widely distributed. They are found in the Yangtze River, Yellow River and their affiliated lakes and swamps, and have certain economic value.

animal tags：