Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing dories. Though they have a familiar name, these dories aren't related to the well known Dory from Finding Nemo. Dory from Finding Nemo is a blue tang, but these dories are simply known as dories. Or dory fish, or John dories, or mirror dories– they have a couple common names. In fact, one of their common names is the St. Peter's fish because some species have black spots which are believed to represent the fingerprints of St. Peter. Technically, this episode discusses "true" dories, as there are other fish with the common name "dory" that aren't classified in the "true" dory family, though at one point they were all classified together, so the common names have stuck.

There are a handful of dory fish species. These animals live in tropical and temperate parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. They’re demersal fish meaning they spend most of the time on or near the bottom of the ocean, and they're most frequently seen on continental shelves or slopes. The continental shelf is the generally flat area of seafloor from the coast to the continental slope, which is where the seafloor begins to descend to the abyss. Dories typically swim between 300 to 1,300 feet (90-400m) deep, and it's for this reason they're often caught in bottom trawlers.

Though they have a spiny appearance, dory fish are considered a delicacy in some areas and can fetch a high price in restaurants. Their meat is described as mild and slightly sweet in flavor. Aside from humans, dories are also eaten by larger fish including sharks. These fish average about 18 inches (45cm) long but can double that at their largest size. They're extremely thin– this may help them avoid predators.

If a dory fish turns they can almost disappear as a small line in the water. This is because looking at them from the front gives almost no silhouette due to their thin frame. From the side they’re oval shaped; they have an upturned mouth, few to no scales, and long trailing filaments that cascade off dorsal spines. These spines have bucklers at the base which helps differentiate them from other dory species.

These fish are predators. They eat smaller fish as well as crustaceans and cephalopods. It takes them a few years to reach reproductive maturity, and males reach this at a smaller size than females. Their eggs are laid and fertilized externally, and the parents take no further role in raising their offspring. The larvae are planktonic and heavily pigmented when they hatch, floating through the water column when they are at their most vulnerable to a diversity of predators. However, as they grow, they develop better skills to avoid being eaten. On average, dories live just over a decade.

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