Aristostomias tittmanni
No common name
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GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Stomiidae (Dragonfishes)
Aristostomias
Aristostomias tittmanni
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.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Body depth is 14.7% to 15.9% and head length is 27.9% to 29.5% of SL. Snout length is 29.1% to 29.3% and eye diameter is 15% to 20% of head length. Two nares are present on each side of snout. Premaxilla has 6 small to moderate-sized, fanglike teeth, and maxilla has 12 small, oblique denticles. Palatine has row of 4 small teeth. Lower jaw has 7 to 11 barbed fangs, with first 2 larger than remainder and fitting into grooves in upper jaw. Chin barbel is 60% to 75% of SL and terminates as a club-shaped bulb. Pectoral fin has 6 or 7, dorsal fin has 20 to 23, pelvic fin has 6, and anal fin has 24 to 29 rays. IP number 8, PV number 17 to 19, and VAV number 15 or 16. OV number 18 to 20, VAL number 14 to 16, and AC number 9 to 11. Three pairs of photophores are located between last two pairs of IP photophores. So is crescent shaped and 40% to 80% of eye diameter in length, and Po is oval shaped and 50% to 60% of eye diameter in length. Series of luminous spots are located between eye and postorbital organ, and in front of and below eye. Small light organs are scattered over head and body.
Color is dark brown to black.
Distribution
eastern seaboard of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
from near the surface to 2,000 m
Biology
Food consists of myctophids and possibly other midwater fishes.
Maximum known size is 215 mm SL.
Meso- and bathypelagic (Ref. 58302).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-07-01. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters
References
Morrow 1964c
Rass 1971
Gibbs 1984e
Sutton and Hopkins in press
Gibbs, R.H. Jr. (1984) Malacosteidae. p. 366-370. 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.
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.
Bigelow, H.B., D.M. Cohen, M.M. Dick, R.H. Gibbs Jr., M. Grey, J.E. Morrow Jr., L.P. Schultz and V. Walters (1964) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Part four. New Haven, Sears Found. Mar. Res., Yale Univ.
Mundy, B.C. (2005) Checklist of the fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Bishop Mus. Bull. Zool. (6):1-704.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
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