Borostomias elucens
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Stomiidae (Dragonfishes)
Borostomias
Borostomias elucens
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.
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Characters
Moderately elongate and moderately slender; enlarged, fang-like teeth in jaws; long, slender chin barbel about one and one-half times head length; tip of barbel expanded into an elongate bulb; fanglike jaw teeth straight and relatively larger than other jaw teeth; maxillary teeth widely spaced and erect, numbering 8 to 10; gill rakers replaced by one to several groups of small teeth; vomer with small tooth on each side; palatine with 9 teeth; dorsal fin origin over or slightly posterior to pelvic fin insertion; distance from dorsal fin origin to caudal fin base 45% to 48% of SL; dorsal fin with 13 or 14 rays; anal fin with 13 to 16 rays; ventral adipose fin absent; serial photophores not broken up into small groups; IP number 10 to 12; PV number 22 or 23; VAV number 14 or 15; OV number 21 to 27; VAL number 15 or 16; AC number 12 to 14; Po organ single, equal to or slightly shorter than eye.
Black except bulb of chin barbel is white.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in the western Atlantic.
Habitat Associations
Tropical seas between 250 and 1,650 m.
Biology
Maximum known size is 350 mm SL.
Quite common in deep oceanic waters, usually living deeper than 500 m during the day. Smaller individuals migrate to near-surface or even surface waters at night. Feeds on midwater fishes and crustaceans (Ref. 2802).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-04-22. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
References
Gibbs 1964a
Gibbs 1984a
Rass 1971
Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino (1984) The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Vol. 1. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, Japan. 437 p. (text).
Gibbs, R.H. Jr. (1990) Astronesthidae. p. 300-307. 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.
McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm (1998) Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. 1112p.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
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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