{{Short description|Family of ray-finned fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Sand lances | image = Ammodytes hexapterus.jpg | image_caption = ''Ammodytes hexapterus'' | taxon = Ammodytidae | authority = Bonaparte, 1832 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = <ref>{{FishBase family | family = Ammodytidae| month = December | year = 2012}}</ref> | subdivision = ''Ammodytes''<br/> ''Ammodytoides''<br/> ''Bleekeria''<br/> ''Gymnammodytes''<br/> ''Hyperoplus''<br/> ''Lepidammodytes''<br/> ''Protammodytes'' }} [[File:Tern-sand-lance.jpg|thumb|right|A common tern with a sand lance, Biddeford Pool, ME - August 2013]]

A '''sand lance''' or '''sandlance''' is a ray-finned fish belonging to the family '''Ammodytidae'''. Several species of sand lances are commonly known as "sand eels", though they are not related to true eels. Another variant name is '''launce''',<ref>Bigalow &amp Schroeder, 1953</ref> and all names of the fish are references to its slender body and pointed snout. The family name (and genus name, ''Ammodytes'') means "sand burrower", which describes the sand lance's habit of burrowing into sand to avoid tidal currents.

Sand lances are most commonly encountered by fishermen in the North Pacific and North Atlantic, but are found in oceans throughout the world. These fish do not have pelvic fins and do not develop swim bladders, staying true to their bottom-dwelling habit as adults. Both adult and larval sea lances primarily feed on copepods. Larval forms of this fish are perhaps the most abundant of all fish larvae in areas such as the northwest Atlantic, serving as a major food item for cod, salmon, whales<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-humpback-whale-culture-behavior-science-animals/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427093142/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-humpback-whale-culture-behavior-science-animals/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2013 |title=Do Whales Have Culture? Humpbacks Pass on Behavior |publisher=News.nationalgeographic.com |date= |accessdate=2013-04-28}}</ref> and other commercially important species. As adults, sand lances are harvested commercially in some areas (primarily in Europe), leading to direct human competition with diving birds such as puffins, auks, terns, and cormorants. Some species are inshore coastal dwellers, and digging for sand lances to use as a bait fish has been a popular pastime in coastal areas of Europe and North America. Other species are deep-water dwellers, some of which have only recently been described to science, and most of which lack common names. [[File:Ammodytes americanus.jpg|thumb|''Ammodytes americanus'']] [[File:Ammodytes tobianus Gervais.jpg|thumb|''Ammodytes tobianus'']] [[File:Northern sand lance.jpg|thumb|''Ammodytes dubius'']]

==Convergent evolution== Sand lances have chameleon-like independent eye movements and special focusing lenses. These specialized eyes enhance the animals' prey capture ability as shown by their high success rates. Superficially, the swift strike of the sand lance resembles the "ballistic tongue" of chameleons. Sand lances and chameleons share other features.<ref>John D. Pettigrew, Shaun P. Collin, and Matthias Ott, "Convergence of Specialised Behaviour, Eye Movements and Visual Optics in the Sandlance (Teleostei) and the Chameleon (Reptilia)," Current Biology 9 (April 1999): 421–24, doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(99)80189-4</ref><ref>Michael F. Land, "Visual Optics: The Sandlance Eye Breaks All the Rules," Current Biology 9 (April 1999): R286–88, doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(99)80180-8.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://biobubblepets.com/chameleons-and-their-amazing-tongues/ |title=Chameleons And Their Amazing Tongues, November 6, 2022, ''biobubblepets.com'' |access-date=August 31, 2023 |archive-date=August 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831010616/https://biobubblepets.com/chameleons-and-their-amazing-tongues/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Timeline==

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bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text:Q.

</timeline>

== See also == The sand lance has lent its name to two submarines of the United States Navy: * {{USS|Sand Lance|SS-381}}, a {{sclass|Balao|submarine|1}}. * {{USS|Sand Lance|SSN-660}}, a ''Sturgeon''-class nuclear submarine.

==References== * {{cite journal | last1 = Bigelow | first1 = H. B. | last2 = Schroeder | first2 = W. C. | title = Sand launce ''Ammodytes americanus'' De Kay 1942, ''in'' Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, Fishery Bulletin 74 | journal = Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service | volume = 53 | date = 1953 | url = http://www.gma.org/fogm/Ammodytes_americanus.htm}} * [http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/205/9/1241 biologists.org on independent eye movements] * {{cite journal | last = Sepkoski | first = Jack | title = A compendium of fossil marine animal genera | journal = Bulletins of American Paleontology | volume = 364 | page =560 | year = 2002 | url = http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class | accessdate = 2011-05-19 }} {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/zone/underwater_sous-marin/SandLance/sandlanc_e.htm Sand Lance] profile at Fisheries and Oceans Canada

{{Taxonbar|from=Q695712}}

Category:Ammodytidae Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines Category:Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte