Bembrops gobioides
Goby 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 gobioides (Goby 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
Narrow flap or tentacle on posterior margin of maxilla; lower jaw projects beyond upper jaw; maxilla exposed posteriorly and deeply notched; jaw, vomerine, and palatine teeth villiform and 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; posttemporal bone with a well-developed spine; branchiostegal rays 7; gill rakers on first arch 5-6 upper limb, 12-14 lower limb; head length 34%-38% SL, snout length 10%-12% SL, eye diameter 7%-9% SL, upper jaw length 12%-15% SL, pectoral fin length 23%-26% SL, body depth 9%-15% SL; pectoral fin rays 22-26; first dorsal fin spines 6; second dorsal fin rays 16-17; anal fin rays 17-18; caudal fin truncate; body and head mostly covered with ctenoid scales; lateral line scales 60-66
Tan dorsally, light yellowish tan to white ventrally, with dark reticulate pattern formed by dark pigment outlining scale pockets; dark dorsal fin; dark blotch at base of caudal fin; dark check-shaped marks sometimes present in juveniles
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from New York to the Gulf of Mexico, including the Bahamas and the Antilles
Throughout the Gulf of Mexico along the outer continental shelf and upper slope
Habitat Associations
Outer continental shelf and upper slope, between 82 and 567 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 220 mm SL
Enters shelf waters.
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
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.
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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