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Today on animal fact files we're talking about wolffish. Dive into the channel by subscribing, and thank you to Gizka for today's request. Wolffish have quite a few common names, and we’ll be discussing many of them throughout today’s episode. There are five species of wolffish and they are all found in the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The species may have overlapping ranges, but generally they are found at different depths. For example, the Atlantic wolffish may be found from 3 to 1,600 feet (1-500 meters) below the surface, but the Northern wolffish may be found up to double that depth. In general, wolffish living in the Atlantic ocean are found living in deeper areas than those found living in the Pacific ocean, and overall these fish inhabit a broad range of the ocean’s depths, though they tend to live towards the bottom of the water column.

Wolffish have a long, eel-like body which has given rise to one of their common names: the wolf eel. These fish, however, are not eels. The name wolf eel is usually attributed specifically to the longest wolffish species, who may reach more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) in length; other wolffish have a maximum length of about five feet (1.5 meters). That’s still long enough to be intimidating, though!

If you haven’t already noticed, these fish have some crazy teeth. Because of these teeth, wolffish have also been given the common name sea wolves. If you’ll recall from our orca episode, that’s a common name they’ll have to share. Wolffish teeth are designed to help them ensnare and break up their prey which consists of clams and other bivalves, whelks and other sea snails, echinoderms like sea urchins and sea stars, as well as crustaceans. Within their mouth, wolffish have strong crushing molars, and their terrifying canine-like teeth can help with holding onto a meal. These teeth, however, are not permanent.

Breeding season for most wolffish begins in the early fall. If they haven’t been living with their partner throughout the year - which isn’t unheard of because these fish tend to be solitary creatures - wolffish will meet up with a partner, usually in deeper water, and mate. Unlike most of the fish we’ve previously discussed, wolffish have internal fertilization and the female will give birth to fertilized eggs that average 6mm across. That’s about the size of a pea. Wolffish eggs are actually some of the biggest fish eggs scientists are aware of! The female will spend time after laying her eggs turning, sifting, and aerating them and eventually the male will take over and start protection duties. During this time he may not eat, though sometimes the parents will swap nesting guarding responsibility. The babies take a few months to hatch, and it can take them years to reach sexual maturity. Based on wolffish that were tagged and then released back to the wild, these fish can live to be at least seven years old, though many scientists estimate a lifespan of more than ten years due to their slow maturation.

Also observed from the tagging of those individuals was that wolffish are homebodies. When recaught years later, the tagged wolffish hadn’t strayed more than a few miles from their original capture sight. To be fair, they aren’t strong swimmers. Fortunately for the wolffish, their mugs seem to scare away most predators, though they are eaten by humans. When sold in fish markets, wolffish are often sold under the label “catfish” however these fish are not related to actual catfish - they’re more closely related to blobfish. One species in particular, however, is not suitable for consumption due to its gelatinous, watery flesh which has given rise to our personal favorite wolffish common name: jelly cats.

For more facts on wolffish, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.