Alepisaurus ferox
Longnose Lancetfish
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Alepisauridae (Lancetfishes)
Alepisaurus
Alepisaurus ferox (Longnose Lancetfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
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Characters
Very elongate and very slender, with a long snout and a dorsal fin that is high anteriorly and has several free rays. Body depth is 8% to 12.5% and head length is 16% to 23% of SL. Snout length is 33% to 50% and eye diameter is 17% to 20% of head length. Dorsal fin originates over posterior margin of operculum, has emarginate profile, and possesses several elongated anterior fin rays. Dorsal fin has 36 to 45, pectoral fin has 12 to 15, pelvic fin has 8 to 10, and anal fin has 14 to 18 fin rays.
Distribution
Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; near the surface to below 1,000 m
Biology
Cephalopods, crustaceans, tunicates, and fishes
200 cm SL
Mainly inhabit tropical and subtropical waters; however, during the feeding period adults may migrate to the subarctic reaching as far north as Greenland, Iceland and the Bering Sea (Ref. 51887). Epipelagic- and mesopelagic, from near the surface to below 1,000 m, sometimes approaching inshore waters (Ref. 6011). Bathypelagic (Ref. 58302). Mainly nocturnal. Feeds on fishes, cephalopods, tunicates, and crustaceans (Ref. 6011). Preyed upon by opah, sharks, albacore, yellowfin tuna, and fur seals (Ref. 6885). Oviparous, with planktonic larvae (Ref. 36025). Are synchronous hermaphrodites (Ref. 84733). Occasionally consumed but of little importance due to its soft flesh (Ref. 5217). The maximum weight given is for a 167 cm FL specimen (Ref. 42154).
Reproductive mode: true hermaphroditism; fertilization: external; nonguarders. Oviparous. Gonads of adolescents are hermaphroditic, but there is no proof that the species is a functional hermaphrodite (Ref. 6011). However, further studies show that this species is a synchronous hermaphrodite where gonads consist of clearly defined and well separated ovarian and testicular regions with no indication of sequential maturation of the sex products (Ref. 84733).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: Very low.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Gibbs and Wilimowsky 1966
Rass 1971
Post 1984a
Heemstra and Smith 1986
Fischer, W., M.-L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds.) (1987) Fiches FAO d'identification des espèces pour les besoins de la pêche. (Révision 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de Pêche 37. FAO, Rome. 1529 p.
Post, A. (1984) Alepisauridae. p. 494-495. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Ambrose, D.A. (1996) Alepisauridae: lancetfishes. p. 379-381. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.
Sabatié, R., M. Potier, C. Broudin, B. Seret, F. Ménard and F. Marsac (2003) Preliminary analysis of some pelagic fish diet in the eastern Central Atlantic. Col. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 55(1):292-302.
Fedorov, V.V., I.A. Chereshnev, M.V. Nazarkin, A.V. Shestakov and V.V. Volobuev (2003) Catalog of marine and freswater fishes of the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2003. 204 p.
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