Fodiator acutus
Sharpchin Flyingfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Beloniformes
Exocoetidae (Flyingfishes)
Fodiator
Fodiator acutus (Sharpchin Flyingfish)
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
Robust and compressed posteriorly, with a long, acute snout and relatively short pelvic fins. Snout is longer than eye diameter. Mouth is of moderate size but does not extend to anterior margin of eye, and lower jaw extends slightly beyond upper jaw. Jaw teeth are small, conical, and in narrow bands. Gill rakers on first arch number about 29. Snout length is 9.1% to 10%, head length is 26.2% to 27.8%, eye diameter is 7.1% to 8%, interorbital width is 7.1% to 7.5%, body depth is 20.9% to 23.5%, snout to dorsal fin origin is 72.4% to 74.7%, snout to pelvic fin origin is 57.3% to 59.4%, snout to anal fin origin is 75% to 77.5%, pectoral fin length is 48.2% to 50.9%, and pelvic fin length is 14.6% to 16.7% of SL. Pectoral fin fails to reach origin of dorsal fin and has 14 to 16 rays, with first ray unbranched. Dorsal fin is elevated (longest rays reach 18.1% to 21.3% of SL) and has 10 or 11 rays. Anal fin originates behind dorsal fin origin and has 11 rays. Lower caudal fin lobe is only slightly longer than upper lobe. Scales above lateral line number 5, and predorsal scales number 21 to 24. Vertebrae number 38 or 39.
Color is dark dorsally and silvery ventrally, with pectoral fin uniformly gray and pelvic and anal fins transparent. Dorsal fin is dusky and grades to black near tip, with distal margin transparent. Caudal fin is grayish, with membranes slightly darker than rays.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Suriname, the West Indies, and in the western Gulf of Mexico at Isla de Lobos, near Veracruz
Habitat Associations
Coastal species
Biology
Maximum known size is 250 mm SL
Neritic, oceanic and epipelagic species (Ref. 27000) at surface (Ref. 96339). Capable of leaping out of the water and gliding for long distances above the surface.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-07-10. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Bruun 1935
Castro-Aguirre and Marquez-Espinoza 1981
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Parin, N.V. and R.H. Gibbs Jr. (1990) Exocoetidae. p. 583-591. 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.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.
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