Helicolenus dactylopterus
Blackbelly Rosefish
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Scorpaenidae (Scorpionfishes)
Helicolenus
Helicolenus dactylopterus (Blackbelly Rosefish)
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.)
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Characters
Head is of moderate size, snout is short, and eye is large. Small teeth occur in jaws, palatine, and vomer. Preorbital bone has rounded lobes over maxilla. Suborbital ridge either lacks spines or has a single spine. Nasal, preocular, supraocular, postocular, and pterotic spines are poorly developed. Right and left tympanic spines are widely separated. Parietal spine is longer than nuchal spine. Preoperculum has 5 spines, with second the longest, first lacking supplemental spine and about equal to third, and fourth and fifth of moderate length. Gill rakers on first arch number 7 or 8 on upper limb and 16 to 18 on lower limb. Slit is lacking behind fourth gill arch. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 39%–43%, snout length 8%–10%, orbit diameter 13%–14%, interorbital width 4%–5%, jaw length 21%–22%, body depth 31%–33%. Pectoral fin rays number 19 (rarely 17 or 18). Dorsal fin has 12 spines and 11 to 13 rays. Anal fin has 3 spines and 5 rays (rarely 2 spines and 4 or 6 rays). Caudal fin is very slightly emarginate. Body is covered with ctenoid scales. Vertebrae number 25, and gas bladder is absent.
Pale red, without cirri or tabs on head. Dark markings are mainly concentrated on dorsal half of body. Young specimens have dark area at base of dorsal fin. Mouth and opercular cavity are black. Preserved specimens are straw colored with dark markings.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Guyana, including the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatán Channel, and the Bahamas.
Northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Temperate to tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, between 110 and 735 m
Biology
Benthic and pelagic crustaceans and ray-finned fishes, including myctophids
Maximum known size is 380 mm SL
Adults are found in soft bottom areas of the continental shelf and upper slope. They feed on both benthic and pelagic organisms (crustaceans, fishes, cephalopods, and echinoderms) (Ref. 4570). The reproductive mode is a zygoparous form of oviparity, intermediate between oviparity and viviparity (Ref. 36265, 79712). Larvae and juveniles are pelagic (Ref. 4570). Anterolateral glandular grooves with venom gland (Ref. 57406). Sold fresh (Ref. 27121).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: internal (oviduct); nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. The reproductive mode is a zygoparous form of oviparity, intermediate between oviparity and viviparity (Ref. 36265, 79712). Eggs covered with gelatinous material are fertilised in the ovary. Eggs are released into the seabed at various stages of development and larvae assumes a planktonic existence once the gelatinous covering dissolves (Ref. 31150).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-06. Resilience: Low (K=0.06-0.2; tm=13-16; tmax=43).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941 (as Helicolenus maderensis)
Bigelow and Schroeder 1953
Eschmeyer 1969b
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1993a
Poss and Eschmeyer 2002
Eschmeyer, W.N. (1986) Scorpaenidae. p. 463-478. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Eschmeyer, W.N. and L.J. Dempster (1990) Scorpaenidae. p. 665-679. 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.
Meyer, M. and M.J. Smale (1991) Predation patterns of demersal teleosts from the Cape south and west coasts of South Africa. 2. Benthic and epibenthic predators. S. Afr. J. mar. Sci. 11:409-442.
Wourms, J.P. (1991) Reproduction and development of Sebastes in the context of the evolution of piscine viviparity. Environ. Biol. Fishes 30(1-2):111-126.
Allain, V. and P. Lorance (2000) Age estimation and growth of some deep-sea fish from the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Cybium 24(3) suppl.:7-16.
Macpherson, E. (1979) Relations trophiques des poissons dans la Méditerranée occidentale. Rapp. Comm. Int. Explor. Sci. Mer Méditerr. 25/26, 49-58.
Muñoz, M., C. Dimitriadis, M. Casadevall, S. Vila, E. Delgado, J. Lloret and F. Saborido-Rey (2010) Female reproductive biology of the bluemouth Helicolenus dactylopterus dactylopterus: spawning and fecundity. J. Fish Biol. 77(10):2423-2442.
Pereira, J.N., A. Simas, A. Rosa, A. Aranha, S. Lino, E. Constantino, V. Monteiro, O. Tariche and G. Menezes (2012) Weight-length relationships for 27 demersal fish species caught off the Cape Verde archipelago (eastern North Atlantic). J. Appl. Ichthyol. 28:156-159. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2011.01915.x
Comments On Helicolenus dactylopterus