Weever
Weevers are 9 extant species of fishes of family
Trachinidae, order
Perciformes. They are long, mainly brown in color, and have poisonous spines on their first dorsal fins and gills. During the day, weevers bury themselves in sand, just showing their eyes, and snatch prey as it comes past, which consists of shrimp and small fish. Weevers are unusual in not having swim bladders, as do most bony fish, and as a result, sink as soon as they stop actively swimming. With the exception of
T. cornutus from the southeast Pacific, all species in this family are restricted to the eastern Atlantic. A tenth, extinct species,
Callipterus speciosus, is known from the Monte Bolca lagerstatte of the Lutetian epoch. Weevers are sometimes used as an ingredient in the recipe for
bouillabaisse. Weevers are sometimes erroneously called 'weaver fish', although the word is unrelated. In fact, the word 'weever' is believed to derive from the Old French word
wivre, meaning serpent or dragon, from the Latin
vipera. It is sometimes also known as the viperfish, although it is not related to the viperfish proper.