Benthodesmus elongatus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes)
Benthodesmus
Benthodesmus elongatus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: eel-like. Body silvery, jaws and opercle blackish. The inside of the mouth and gill cavities black. Striking features: striking shape of body.
Distribution
Atlantic, Indian and Pacific: off south Brazil and Argentina, Rio Grande Rise, southeastern Africa, Madagascar Ridge, southeastern Australia, New Zealand, Sala y Gomez Ridge.
Habitat Associations
Marine. benthopelagic. depth range 178-950 m.
Biology
Juveniles mesopelagic (Ref. 6181); also benthopelagic (Ref. 5951). Feeds on crustaceans (mainly prawns and euphausiids), small fishes (e.g. Maurolicus) and squid (Ref. 6202). Minimum depth reported from Ref. 36453.
Max length: 100.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Batch spawners with 5,000 to 16,000 eggs per spawn.
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: Low (tm=5-6; Fec=5,000-16,000 (batch fecundity)).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: bycatch.
References
Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin (1993) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p.
Nakamura, I. (1995) Trichiuridae. Peces sables, cintillas. p. 1638-1642. In W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) Guia FAO para Identification de Especies para lo Fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. 3 Vols. FAO, Rome.
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 Benthodesmus elongatus