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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Eustomias bigelowi

No common name
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

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Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Stomiiformes Stomiidae (Dragonfishes) Eustomias Eustomias bigelowi

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. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Elongate and slender body; long, tapering, protrusible snout; moderately short chin barbel with single terminal bulb; abdominal pelvic fins; body depth 6.7% to 9.1% and head length 11.4% to 14.4% of SL; lower jaw about as long as upper jaw; chin barbel 11.2% to 12.9% of SL with slender stem, three branches, and globular terminal bulb; branches medial to bulb, slightly shorter to slightly longer than distance from base of branches to tip of barbel, and bearing several side branches; terminal bulb with several branched filaments near tip; deep groove on belly between PV 3 and PV 13; pectoral fin with 2 tightly bound rays; dorsal fin with 22 to 26 rays; anal fin with 37 to 42 rays; pelvic fin with 7 rays; IP number 7; PV number 27 to 30; VAV number 14 or 16; OV number 26 to 29; VAL number 14 to 17; AC number 20 to 22
Black; barbel stem pigmented to origin of branches or to near distal bulb

Distribution

Western Atlantic from Bermuda, the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Habitat Associations

Marine. pelagic-oceanic. depth range 0-500 m.

Biology

134 mm SL
Mesopelagic (Ref. 58302).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-07-01. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes

Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: of no interest.

References

Morrow and Gibbs 1964
Gibbs et al. 1983
Sutton and Hopkins 1996
Gibbs, R.H. and M.A. Barnett (1990) Melanostomiidae. p. 308-337. 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.
Clarke, T.A. (2000) Review of nine species of North Atlantic Eustomias, subgenus Dinematochirus (Pisces: Stomiidae), with the description of two new species. Copeia 2000(1):96-111.
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.
Sutton, T.T. and T.L. Hopkins (1996) Trophic ecology of the stomiid (Pisces: Stomiidae) fish assemblage of the eastern Gulf of Mexico: strategies, selectivity and impact of a top mesopelagic predator group. Mar. Biol. 127:179-192.
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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