Fistularia petimba
Red Cornetfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gasterosteiformes (Sticklebacks and relatives)
Fistulariidae (Cornetfishes)
Fistularia
Fistularia petimba (Red Cornetfish)
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.
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Characters
Slender, elongate, and slightly depressed body; extremely prolonged snout; forked caudal fin with long filament; serrate upper, lower, and lateral ridges on snout in adults; parallel upper snout ridges; serrate preorbital and postorbital ridges; posttemporal ridge with well-developed antrorse serrations; narrow and smooth interorbital region; pectoral fin with 15-17 rays; dorsal fin subtriangular with 14-16 rays; anal fin similar to dorsal fin with 14 or 15 rays; caudal fin lobes smaller than dorsal and anal fins; skin covered with spinules; posterior ossifications of lateral line terminating in retrorse spine; elongate bony plates along midline preceding anal fin and in front of and behind dorsal fin; 50 trunk vertebrae (first 4 fused) and 26 tail vertebrae
Red to orangish brown dorsally and silvery ventrally
Distribution
From Massachusetts to central Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Tropical coastal regions, usually on soft bottoms at depths greater than 10 m
Soft bottoms
Biology
Maximum known size is 150 cm TL
Found in the sublittoral zone (Ref. 11230); inhabits coastal areas over soft bottoms, usually at depths greater than 10 m (Ref. 30573). Benthopelagic (Ref. 58302). Feeds on small fishes and shrimps (Ref. 3401). Maximum length reported is 200 cm TL (Ref. 26999), however, no specimen over 100 cm is known to J.E. Randall (Ref. 11441).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. 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: subsistence fisheries; gamefish.
References
Fritzsche 1976
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Allen, G.R. and R. Swainston (1988) The marine fishes of north-western Australia: a field guide for anglers and divers. Western Australian Museum, Perth. 201 p.
Sano, M., M. Shimizu and Y. Nose (1984) Food habits of teleostean reef fishes in Okinawa Island, southern Japan. University of Tokyo Bulletin, no. 25. v,128p. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, Japan. 128 p.
Fritzsche, R.A. (1990) Fistulariidae. p. 654-655. 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.
May, J.L. and J.G.H. Maxwell (1986) Trawl fish from temperate waters of Australia. CSIRO Division of Fisheries Research, Tasmania. 492 p.
Fritzsche, R.A. (1976) A review of the cornetfishes, genus Fistularia (Fistulariidae), with a discussion of intrageneric relationships and zoogeography. Bull. Mar. Sci. 26(2):196-204.
Sanches, J.G. (1991) Catálogo dos principais peixes marinhos da República de Guiné-Bissau. Publ. Avuls. Inst. Nac. Invest. Pescas 16:429 p.
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.
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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