Gephyroberyx darwinii
Big Roughy
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Beryciformes
Trachichthyidae (Roughies)
Gephyroberyx
Gephyroberyx darwinii (Big Roughy)
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
Deep bodied, oval shaped, and compressed, with low ridges on head, and spinous section of dorsal fin longer than anal fin base. Dorsal profile is slightly rounded and snout is blunt. Bones of head are slightly cavernous, and skin covering depressions is relatively thick. Nasal bone has anterior rugose spine. Jaw teeth are arranged in band in upper jaw, with inner row larger than outer row. Teeth in lower jaw are arranged in band anteriorly and in two rows of hooked teeth posteriorly. Vomerine and palatine teeth are well developed. Gill rakers on first arch are long and slender and number 12 or 13. Preopercular spine is strong and triangular. Operculum has single strong spine and numerous radiating, denticulated striae. Posttemperal bone projection is rounded and does not form spine. Head length is 35.4% to 44.2%, snout length is 8.6% to 10.2%, eye diameter is 10.2% to 16.2%, interorbital width is 10.8% to 13%, body depth is 44.8% to 53%, pectoral fin length is 20.5% to 28.3%, and pelvic fin length is 20.7% to 24.4% of SL. Pectoral fin has oblique base and 13 to 15 rays. Dorsal fin has seven or eight rugose spines and 11 rays, with fourth spine longest. Anal fin has three spines and 11 rays. Body is covered with ctenoid scales. Lateral line scales are enlarged and separated from each other by one or two smaller scales without tubes. Abdomen has medial row of heavy scutes.
Color is red on head and red to brownish red on back. Lower side is silvery gray to red. In preservative, specimens are dusky brown dorsally and pale silvery ventrally.
Distribution
Delaware Bay to Panama, including the northern Gulf of Mexico and the western Caribbean Sea
northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate waters, on or near the bottom at 70 to 500 m
Biology
Food consists of small shrimps and fishes
Maximum known size is 480 mm SL
Lives close to or on the bottom of the upper continental slope. Prefers hard substrates. Young specimens feed on small shrimps and fish (Ref. 4784). A deep sea species, nonetheless, the young are often found near the coast (Ref. 9137). Utilized as fishmeal and source of oil in eastern central Atlantic (Ref. 3695).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-19. Resilience: Very low (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: commercial; gamefish.
References
Woods and Sonoda 1973
Murdy et al. 1983
Heemstra 1986e
Maul 1986b
Boschung 1992
Schneider, W. (1990) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Field guide to the commercial marine resources of the Gulf of Guinea. Prepared and published with the support of the FAO Regional Office for Africa. Rome: FAO. 268 p.
Maul, G.E. (1990) Trachichthyidae. p. 620-622. In J.C. Quéro, 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.
Maul, G.E. (1981) Trachichthyidae. In W. Fischer, G. Bianchi and W.B. Scott (eds.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic; fishing areas 34, 47 (in part). Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and FAO. Vol. 4. pag. var.
Woods, L.P. and P.M. Sonoda (1973) Order Berycomorphi (Beryciformes). p. 263-396. In D.M. Cohen et al. (eds.) Fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Number 1 Part 6.
van Guelpen, L. (1993) Substantial northward range extension for Gephyroberyx darwini (Berycoidei, Trachichthyidae) in the western North Atlantic, possibly explained by habitat preference. J. Fish Biol. 42(5):807-810.
Kotlyar, A.N. (1980) Systematic and distribution of trachichthyid fishes (Trachichthyidae, Beryciformes) of the Indian ocean. Trudy Inst. Okeanol. 110:177-224.
Cohen, D.M., A.W. Ebeling, T. Iwamoto, S.B. McDowell, N.B. Marshall, D.E. Rosen, P. Sonoda, W.H. Weed III and L.P. Woods (1973) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Part six. New Haven, Sears Found. Mar. Res., Yale Univ.
Comments On Gephyroberyx darwinii