The orange roughy inhabits the cold, deep
ocean and is one of the longest-lived fish
species known.
These fish are distributed globally.
They grow and mature slowly.
They don’t reproduce until they are at least
20 years old, and are capable of living around
150 years.
Their ear bone is used to estimate their age.
They are typically found near the seafloor
in ocean depths of 1300 to 5900 ft (400 to
1800 m) on continental slopes and seamounts.
They often gather in large groups.
In the past few decades, fishing by bottom
trawling has expanded to their deep-water
habitat, making them one of the world’s
deepest fished species.
Because of their slow lifecycle, this fishing
has caused population declines, making them
vulnerable to extinction.
Many smaller fisheries have had to close down
because of depleted stocks.
Trawling for this species also negatively
impacts the other species that live in their
habitat, like slow growing corals.
Orange roughy feed on crustaceans,
small fish, and squid.
They are preyed on by animals like sperm whales
and deep sea sharks.
Each year, orange roughy form large spawning
aggregations to shed eggs and sperm into the
water.
They are synchronous spawners.
Females rarely produce more than 90000 eggs.
The eggs are buoyant for some time before
sinking to the bottom and hatching.
For the first four years of their life, orange
roughy grow about 1 in (3 cm) per year.
Adults are typically between 14 to 18 in (35
and 45 cm) in size.
Females grow larger than males.
Because of their longevity, orange roughy
naturally accumulate heavy metals like mercury.
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