Astronesthes micropogon
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Stomiidae (Dragonfishes)
Astronesthes
Astronesthes micropogon
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
Moderately elongate and moderately slender, with enlarged, fanglike teeth in the jaws and a minute chin barbel. Snout is not upturned at tip. Chin barbel is less than 1 mm long and tapers to a point. Maxillary teeth are comblike, closely spaced, and slanted posteriorly. Gill rakers are replaced by 13 to 18 groups of small teeth. Teeth on vomer are well developed, and palatine teeth number two to seven. Dorsal fin origin is over pelvic fin insertion, and distance from dorsal fin origin to caudal peduncle is 40.5% to 50.4% of SL. Dorsal fin has 17 to 20 rays, and anal fin has 14 to 16 rays. Ventral adipose fin is located anterior to anus. Serial photophores are not broken into small groups and are relatively large; those of ventral row are curved very slightly near base of pectoral fin. IP number 8 to 10, PV number 13 to 15, and VAV number 17 to 21. OV number 13 to 15, and VAL number 18 to 21. AC number 10 to 12.
Color is silvery.
Distribution
Atlantic Ocean between 30°N and 10°S, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
In the Gulf of Mexico it is known from 25°02'N to 29°06'N and 79°48'W to 88°18'W
Habitat Associations
Associated with oceanic rather than continental waters. Depth range: surface to 700 m
Biology
Food consists of euphausiids and myctophids.
Maximum known size is 79 mm SL.
Fairly common in deep oceanic waters, usually living deeper than 500 m during the day. Smaller individuals migrate to the near-surface or even surface waters at night. Feeds on midwater fishes and crustaceans (Ref. 2802).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-20. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
References
Goodyear and Gibbs 1970
Gibbs 1984a
Sutton and Hopkins in press
Gibbs, R.H. Jr. (1990) Astronesthidae. p. 300-307. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Ishikawa, S., K. Tsukamoto and M. Nishida (2004) Genetic evidence for multiple geographic populations of the giant mottled eel Anguilla marmorata in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Ichthyol. Res. 51:343-353.
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.
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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