Aulostomus maculatus
Atlantic Trumpetfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gasterosteiformes (Sticklebacks and relatives)
Aulostomidae (Trumpetfishes)
Aulostomus
Aulostomus maculatus (Atlantic Trumpetfish)
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
Slender, elongate, and compressed, with a fleshy barbel at the tip of the lower jaw and a series of isolated dorsal spines. First dorsal fin consists of 8 to 13 small, free spines and short, separate membranes. Second dorsal fin has 24 to 28 rays, and anal fin has 25 to 28 rays. Vertebrae number 59 to 61.
Color is olive to pale red, with many black spots and whitish lines along head and side of body. Anterior rays of dorsal and anal fins have black bar near base, and caudal fin has one or two black spots.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from south Florida and Bermuda to northern South America, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas.
Habitat Associations
Weedy areas and around reefs, where they swim with snout down. Depth range not specified.
Biology
Food consists of crustaceans and fishes.
Maximum known size is 91 cm SL.
Commonly found in weedy areas and especially around reefs, where they usually swim snout-down among sea whips (gorgonians). A solitary ambusher of small fishes and crustaceans that lurk among branching coral or gorgonians. Often swims behind large herbivorous fishes to sneak up on prey. Mouth opens to diameter of body to suck in prey (Ref. 9710). Marketed locally. Has been traded as an aquarium fish at Ceará, Brazil (Ref. 49392).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous, gonochorous, with pelagic eggs (Ref. 101194).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-31.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Fritzsche 1977
Hoese and Moore 1977
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
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.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
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.
Comments On Aulostomus maculatus