X - ray tetra fish
There are many strange creatures in Nature. The X-ray tetra fish is one of them. It is a small fish that does not hide anything that lies inside. The most distinctive feature of the fish is its translucent layer of skin. One can see everything including its vertebral column and its spine. If there are eggs inside the body, they can also be seen. The body of this fish is like an X-ray film, hence the name X-ray tetra.
The X-ray tetra is also known as the Golden Pristella Tetra or the Water Goldfish due to the faint golden colouration of its translucent skin. This freshwater fish is found in Amazon and Orinoco rivers, and their tributaries, in South America.
It is also found in coastal rivers and swamps in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana. It is one of the most popular fish found in aquariums today. This small fish has the rare characteristic of being able to live in different types of water bodies.
X-ray tetra has golden stripes and yellow, black and white fins. It can capture the sound waves in the water.
These fish live in large groups in the deep parts of the water and eat insects, small creatures and aquatic plants but are primarily predatory. Their main enemies are large fish and frogs. Their transparent body is a gift of Nature to avoid being easily spotted by their predators. It is not easy to find X-ray tetras among the countless plants in the water.
The young one of the tetra fish is called fry. The female X-ray tetra lays 300 – 400 eggs by scattering them amongst dense vegetation. The fry begins to hatch as early as 24 hours later, and starts swimming within a few days.
