Enchelyopus cimbrius
Fourbeard Rockling
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gadiformes (Cod, Hakes and others)
Phycidae (Phycid Hakes)
Enchelyopus
Enchelyopus cimbrius (Fourbeard Rockling)
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 slender and slightly tapering posteriorly, with three barbels on snout and the first dorsal fin ray followed by a row of small, fleshy filaments. Snout is moderately blunt. Jaws are inferior and horizontal. Head is about 16% to 17%, predorsal length is 14% to 15%, and pelvic fin is 7% to 9% of TL. Snout length is 24% to 27%, upper jaw is 44% to 48%, lower jaw is 49% to 56%, and eye is 22% to 24% of head length. Gill rakers number 9 or 10. Pectoral fin has rounded margin and 15 or 16 rays. First dorsal fin ray is located above upper section of gill slit, is about as long as head, and is followed by 50 fleshy filaments. Second dorsal fin originates over midlength of pectoral fin and has 45 to 53 equal-length rays. Pelvic fin is located anterior to pectoral fin base and has 5 rays. Anal fin has 37 to 41 rays. Caudal fin has oval margin. Lateral line is interrupted along entire length. Scales are small. Vertebrae number 54.
Color is dark olive to dusky brown dorsally and white ventrally, with small brown spots. First dorsal fin ray is blackish, and second dorsal fin has elongate dark blotches.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from southwestern Greenland and Newfoundland south to northern Florida and the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Demersal, from near shore to 650 m. There is one record in the Gulf of Mexico at 1,325 m, but this depth is questionable.
Adults are sedentary bottom dwellers.
Biology
Food consists of shrimps, isopods, and other small crustaceans, and to a lesser extent, small fishes.
Maximum known size is 410 mm TL, and maximum known age is nine years.
Sexual maturity is reached by age three at 250 mm TL. Fecundity ranges from 5,000 to 45,000 eggs.
Sedentary bottom dwellers on muddy sand between patches of hard substrate, or on the soft, smooth ground of deep sinks on the continental slopes of both sides of the North Atlantic. Feed on flatfishes, amphipods, decapods, copepods, mysids, shrimps, isopods and other small crustaceans. Spawn in the Baltic Sea (Ref. 35388). Mixed with soups and other products hot-smoked (Ref. 1371).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-07-10. Resilience: Medium (K=0.20-0.25; tm=3; tmax=9; Fec=5,000).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
It is distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1953b
Svetovidov 1962
Cohen and Russo 1979
Cohen et al. 1990
Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba (1990) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p.
Cohen, D.M. (1990) Gadidae. p. 526-531. 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. 2.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Iwamoto, T., J.D. McEachran, J. Moore, B Russell and A. Polanco Fernandez (2015) Enchelyopus cimbrius. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T15522054A15603465. Downloaded on 16 September 2021.
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