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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Eustomias polyaster

No common name
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

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

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 very slender body; long, tapering, protrusible snout; moderately long chin barbel with several terminal bulbs and a terminal appendage; abdominal pelvic fins; body depth 6.2% to 9.1% and head length 11.5% to 14.3% of SL; premaxilla with 11 to 15 teeth; lower jaw with 14 to 18 teeth; chin barbel 37% to 52% of SL with slender shaft and two or more terminal bulbs; distal bulb 1.3 to 3 times longer than proximal bulb and bilobate or notched distally; terminal filament 8% to 19% of SL; pectoral fin with 2 free rays; dorsal fin with 23 to 26 rays; anal fin with 33 to 38 rays; pelvic fin with 7 rays; IP number 7; PV number 32 to 35; VAV number 15 to 17; OV number 32 to 35; VAL number 16 to 18; AC number 17 or 18; preorbital and suborbital luminous organs absent; Po 1.6% to 2% of SL; vertebrae number 65 to 67
Color is black; barbel stem is light to darkly pigmented with unpigmented external chevron-shaped or roundish striated areas

Distribution

Western Atlantic from the northern and southern Sargasso Sea, the Bahamas to the northern Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi Delta

Habitat Associations

Marine. pelagic-oceanic.

Biology

Maximum known size is 142 mm SL
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Data Deficient (DD), assessed 2015-02-09. Resilience: High (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
Gomon and Gibbs 1985
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.
Bigelow, H.B., D.M. Cohen, M.M. Dick, R.H. Gibbs Jr., M. Grey, J.E. Morrow Jr., L.P. Schultz and V. Walters (1964) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Part four. New Haven, Sears Found. Mar. Res., Yale Univ.
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.
Parr, A.E. (1927) The Stomiatoid fishes of the suborder Gymnophotodermi (Astronesthidae, Melanostomiatidae, Idiacanthidae) with a complete review of the species. Bulletin of the Bingham Oceanographic Collection Yale University 3(2):1-123.

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