Bathygadus melanobranchus
Vaillant's Grenadier
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gadiformes (Cod, Hakes and others)
Macrouridae (Grenadiers)
Bathygadus
Bathygadus melanobranchus (Vaillant's Grenadier)
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.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Elongate and attenuated body; large, terminal mouth; relatively large eyes; closely spaced dorsal fins. Snout slightly acute to slightly blunt and straight anterior to eye. Jaws do not reach posterior margin of orbit. Premaxilla has short ascending process and is only slightly protrusible. Head firm, not cavernous, and 15% to 20% of TL. Snout length 25% to 29%, orbit 25% to 30%, premaxilla length 46% to 57%, and depth of body at dorsal fin origin 72% to 80% of head length. Chin barbel absent. Jaw teeth small, recurved, and depressible, in wide band in premaxilla and narrow band in dentaries. First gill slit unrestricted. Gill rakers lathlike, 6 or 7 on epibranch and 21 to 24 on lower limb of first arch. Pectoral fin of moderate length with 16 to 20 rays. First dorsal fin has 11 to 13 rays, first ray splintlike and second smooth and spinous. Second dorsal fin originates close to insertion of first dorsal fin and has longer rays than anal fin. Pelvic fin has 8 rays, with first ray slightly elongated. Scales lack spinules. Abdominal area lacks naked area and light organ. Swim bladder has two retia mirabilia and lacks drumming muscles.
Rather pale to darkish, with fins gray to black, and linings of mouth, gills, and abdomen black. Gill filaments have dark median stripe.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Subtropical to tropical Atlantic, generally at depths of 700 to 1,400 m, ranging from 450 to 2,560 m
Biology
Pelagic copepods, mysid shrimps, and chaetognaths
Maximum known size is about 400 mm TL
Feeds on mysids, pelagic copepods, chaetognaths and small shrimps (Ref. 3587). Minimum depth reported from Ref. 1371.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-07-10.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Parr 1946a
Grey 1956
Iwamoto 1970
Iwamoto 1986
Marshall 1973
Uyeno et al. 1983
Geistdoerfer 1986
Cohen et al. 1990
Boschung 1992
Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba (1990) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p.
Geistdoerfer, P. (1990) Macrouridae. p. 541-563. 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. 2.
Geistdoerfer, P. (1986) Macrouridae. p. 644-676. 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.
Comments On Bathygadus melanobranchus