Anoplogaster cornuta
No common name
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Beryciformes
Anoplogastridae (Fangtooths)
Anoplogaster
Anoplogaster cornuta
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
Relatively deep bodied, robust anteriorly, and compressed posteriorly, with fanglike teeth in jaws, mucous cavities on head, and a slender caudal peduncle. Lateral profile of head is strongly convex. Mouth is oblique, and upper jaw is almost as long as head. Premaxilla has three fanglike teeth and lower jaw has four (with anteriormost largest), which fit into sockets of orbital cavity when mouth is closed. Teeth are present or absent in palatine. Single supramaxilla occurs on posterodorsal margin of maxilla. Bony ridges bearing small denticles arranged in rows occur on head. Gill rakers on first arch number 6 to 10 on epibranch, 1 in corner, and 7 to 11 on lower limb in juveniles, and consist of groups of one to three spinules in adults. Branchiostegal rays number 8 or 9. Head length is 33.5% to 39.8%, snout length is 10% to 12.9%, eye diameter is 5.9% to 9.8%, interorbital width is 10.7% to 15%, body depth is 44.6% to 56%, pectoral fin length is 23.7% to 27.7%, and pelvic fin length is 19% to 21.7% of SL. Pectoral fin has slightly oblique base and 14 or 15 rays. Dorsal fin is slightly convex and has 17 to 19 rays. Pelvic fin originates slightly posterior to pectoral fin insertion and has 1 unbranched ray and 6 branched rays. Anal fin is rounded, originates near insertion of dorsal fin, and has 8 or 9 rays. Caudal fin is emarginate and has 17 branched rays. Body and cheek are covered with small, thin, platelike scales that are embedded in skin. Lateral line is an open groove bridged by scales at irregular intervals. Swim bladder is gas filled in larvae but regressed and fat filled in adults. Vertebrae number 28.
Color is uniform dark brown to black. Juveniles are slightly deeper bodied and have a more convex head, smaller jaw teeth, longer cephalic and preopercular spines, larger eyes, and a shorter caudal peduncle than adults.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from St. Georges Bank to the Falkland Islands, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Tropical to temperate seas, between 46 and 4,900 m
Biology
Food consists of crustaceans for juveniles and mostly fishes for adults
Maximum known size is 152 mm SL for adults
Bathypelagic (Ref. 58426). Adults occur mainly between 500 and 2,000 m, but ranging from near the surface (young) to 5,000 m. Form schools, swim in small groups or solitary. Carnivorous (Ref. 27155), feeding on crustaceans when young and on fish mainly when adults (Ref. 4737). Serve as food for pelagic fishes such as tuna, albacore, and marlin (Ref. 5951). Oviparous, with planktonic larvae (Ref. 36624).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders. Oviparous (Ref. 36624).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-14. Resilience: Medium (Assuming tmax > 3; K=0.86 questionable).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other families of the order by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Woods and Sonoda 1973
Murdy et al. 1983
Uyeno et al. 1983
Hulley 1986e
Post 1986d
Whitehead, P.J.P., M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) (1986) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. Vols. I-III:1473 p.
Post, A. (1986) Anoplogasteridae. p. 767-768. 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. 2.
Scott, W.B. and M.G. Scott (1988) Atlantic fishes of Canada. Can. Bull. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 219:731 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Nakamura, I., T. Inada, M. Takeda and H. Hatanaka (1986) Important fishes trawled off Patagonia. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo. 369 p.
McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm (1998) Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. 1112p.
Russian Academy of Sciences (2000) Catalog of vertebrates of Kamchatka and adjacent waters. Kamchatsky Pechatny Dvor, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. 166 p.
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