Bathytroctes microlepis
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Alepocephalidae (Slickheads)
Bathytroctes
Bathytroctes microlepis
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, moderately slender, and compressed, with a short, blunt snout and a moderately forked caudal fin. Orbit length is 1.2 to 1.6 times snout length. Head length is 26% to 28% of SL and is slightly greater than body depth. Head profile is arched over eyes. Maxilla extends to about posterior margin of pupil. Two supramaxillae are present on dorsal margin of maxilla. Teeth are small, conical, and uniserial, and are found in palatine, vomer, and both jaws. First gill arch has 8 to 12 gill rakers on epibranch and 21 to 24 on lower limb. Branchiostegal rays number 7 or 8. Pectoral fin is not fanlike and has 10 to 14 rays. Origin of dorsal fin is distinctly anterior to origin of anal fin. Dorsal fin has 15 to 17 rays, and anal fin has 15 to 16 rays. Pelvic fin has 8 rays. Body, exclusive of head, is covered with scales, and those above lateral line are smaller than lateral line scales. Scales are absent on cheek and operculum. Lateral line scales number 47 to 49. Transverse scale rows above lateral line number 59 to 77. Pectoral fin is surrounded by normal scales; there is no naked area between gill slit and base of pectoral fin. Pyloric caecae number 13.
Color is brownish.
Distribution
In the western North Atlantic it occurs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Benthopelagic, has been caught between 1,100 and 3,984 m, and is most common below 1,900 m.
Biology
Maximum known size is 300 mm SL.
Ova reach 3.5 mm in diameter.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-07-11. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
It is distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters listed in diagnostic_characters.
References
Grey 1958
Markle and Quero 1984
Anderson et al. 1985
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Markle, D.F. and Y.I. Sazanov (1990) Alepocephalidae. p. 246-264. 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.
Markle, D.F. and J.-C. Quéro (1984) Alepocephalidae (including Bathylaconidae, Bathyprionidae). p. 228-253. 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.
Sazonov, Y.I. (1999) On the revision of the genus Bathytroctes Günther (Alepocephalidae): a review of the abyssobenthopelagic forms (previously referred to the genus Nomoctes) with a description of two new species. J. Ichthyol. 39(9):699-712.
Hureau, J.-C. and T. Monod (eds.) (1979) Supplement. Check-list of the fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean. p.339-394. In J.-C. Hureau and Th. Monod (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean.United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, France. Vols 1-2. 683 p.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
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