Bembrops anatirostris
Duckbill Flathead
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Percophidae (Flatheads)
Bembrops
Bembrops anatirostris (Duckbill Flathead)
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
Tentacle on posterior margin of maxilla; 10 spots on side; lower jaw projects beyond upper jaw; maxilla exposed posteriorly and deeply notched on posterior margin; jaw, vomerine, and palatine teeth villiform and arranged in bands; angle of preoperculum with two broad spinous processes; lower limb of suboperculum with a single spine; operculum with two diverging spines on posterior margin, a third spine near ventral margin, and an elongate flap extending from posterior margin; posttemporal bone with a well-developed spine on posterior margin; branchiostegal rays 7; gill rakers on first arch 4-6 on upper limb and 12-15 on lower limb; head length 35%-42% SL, snout length 12%-16% SL, eye diameter 8%-9% SL, upper jaw length 13%-15% SL, pectoral fin length 21%-24% SL, body depth 11%-16% SL; pectoral fin with 23-26 rays; first dorsal fin with six slender spines, second dorsal fin with 14 or 15 rays; anal fin with 17 or 18 rays; caudal fin truncate; body and much of head covered with ctenoid scales; lateral line slopes ventrally with 60-68 scales
Tan dorsally and light yellowish tan to white ventrally, with a series of irregularly shaped dark brown spots or blotches on midflank
Distribution
Western North Atlantic in the Gulf of Mexico and off Puerto Rico to northern South America
Throughout the Gulf of Mexico within its depth range
Habitat Associations
Continental shelf, between 82 and 538 m depth
Biology
Maximum known size is 350 mm TL
Generally found below 100 m to at least 400 m (Ref. 13628); enters shelf waters (Ref. 7251).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29.
References
Ginsburg 1955
Grey 1959
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Das and Nelson 1996
Thompson 2002b
Nelson, J.S. (1984) Fishes of the world. 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. 523 p.
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.
Das, M.K. and J.S. Nelson (1996) Revision of the percophid genus Bembrops (Actinopterygii: Perciformes). Bull. Mar. Sci. 59(1):9-44.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Cervigón, F. (1994) Los peces marinos de Venezuela. Volume 3. Fundación Científica Los Roques, Caracas,Venezuela. 295 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.
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