Epigonus macrops
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Epigonidae (Deepwater Cardinalfishes)
Epigonus
Epigonus macrops
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
Head is moderate to short. Snout is short and blunt. Maxilla extends to anterior one-third to two-fifths of eye length. Teeth are conical, often recurved, and arranged in a single row in upper jaw, in one or two rows in lower jaw, in two to four irregular rows in vomer, and in a single row in palatine. Teeth are lacking on tongue. Preopercular angle is weakly produced and rounded, with serrations radiating from inner edge. Operculum has short spine below 3 to 10 spinelets. Gill rakers on first arch are short and awl-like and number 17 to 21. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 34%–39%, head depth 17%–22%, interorbital width 10%–12%, caudal peduncle length 22%–27%, body depth 20%–24%; and as percent of head length: eye diameter 40%–48%. Pectoral fin has 18 or 19 rays. First dorsal fin has eight slender spines (rarely seven), and second dorsal fin has one slender spine and 10 rays (rarely one spine and 9 rays). Anal fin has two slender spines and 10 rays (rarely two spines and 9 rays). Lateral line scales number 46 to 50. Pyloric caecae number eight, with one modified into luminescent organ. Vertebrae number 25: 10 precaudal and 15 caudal.
Color is black in life and brownish gray in preservative. Juveniles have thin, black, anterodorsally oriented ring circling midportion of caudal peduncle. Mouth cavity lacks pigment in juveniles but is black in adults.
Distribution
western Atlantic throughout the Gulf of Mexico, in the Lesser Antilles, and off Suriname
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
between 550 and 1,100 m in the western Atlantic and Indian Oceans; pelagic juveniles have been collected between 120 and 550 m in the Caribbean Sea
Biology
206 mm SL
A mesobenthic-pelagic species living mainly above the bottom (Ref. 31632). Found on the continental slope (Ref. 7300).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-10-12. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of potential interest.
References
Mayer 1974
Fujii 1983b
Gon 2002b
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley (1989) Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p.
Weitkamp, D.E. and R.D. Sullivan (2003) Gas bubble disease in resident fish of the lower Clark Fork River. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 132(5):865-876.
Abramov, A.A. (1992) Species composition and distribution of Epigonus (Epigonidae) in the world ocean. J. Ichthyol. 32(5):94-108.
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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