Ladyfish

• Its larvae are leptocephali: transparent, flattened sheets like willow leaves, identical in appearance to those of eels, which reveals an ancient kinship between the two groups.
• The leptocephalus grows, and then shrinks to half its size during the metamorphosis into a juvenile.
• Its flesh, riddled with very fine bones, means it is valued far more as a sport fish than as food.
• It belongs to the elopomorphs, the same ancient group as the eels and the tarpon, and like them it passes through a transparent, leaf-shaped leptocephalus larva.
• That larva shrinks during metamorphosis: it becomes shorter before turning into a juvenile, something very uncommon among fishes.
• It is a game fish prized for its leaps, but of little culinary value because its flesh is full of bones.
• Juveniles use shallow lagoons and estuaries as nurseries, which makes it dependent on well-preserved coastal wetlands.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (fish)

Habitat and environment

Coastal waters, lagoons and estuaries of the tropical western Atlantic

Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elops_saurus