Hoplostethus mediterraneus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Beryciformes
Trachichthyidae (Roughies)
Hoplostethus
Hoplostethus mediterraneus
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
Oval shaped, deep bodied, and compressed, with ridges on head; spinous section of dorsal fin shorter than anal fin base; bones of head very rugose with minute spines; skin covering deep cavernous channels thin and contains many pores; nasal bone has short spine; jaw teeth arranged in bands with inner teeth slightly larger than outer teeth; vomer lacks teeth in adults; palatine has narrow band of teeth; preopercular spine short, triangular, and extends to or just beyond opercular bones; operculum has low denticulated ridge but no spine; posttemporal bone has strong ridge and associated spine; gill rakers on first arch long, with minute teeth on inner edge, and number 23 to 26; head length 37% to 43%, snout length 7% to 10.2%, eye diameter 13.5% to 16.1%, interorbital width 11.2% to 14.6%, body depth 43.9% to 49%, pectoral fin length 32.2% to 58.5%, and pelvic fin length 19% to 25.2% of SL; pectoral fin has strongly oblique base and 14 to 16 rays; dorsal fin has six rather weak striated spines and 13 rays; anal fin has three increasingly longer spines and 10 rays; caudal fin forked; body and cheek covered with thin, deciduous scales that either are smooth or have minute spines; lateral line scales enlarged, very broad, and have low central spine; abdomen has row of large scutes bearing strong spines
Pale pink dorsally, flank and belly blackish; fins bright red; inside of mouth and branchial chamber black
Distribution
New Jersey to the Greater Antilles, including the Gulf of Mexico
Rare in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate waters at depths between 320 and 1,463 m
Biology
Crustaceans
186 mm SL in the western Atlantic, but 300 mm SL elsewhere
This species is reported to be pelagic in Maul, 1990 (Ref. 3583); however, Schneider, 1990 (Ref. 2683) indicates the species is demersal. Found over muddy bottom (Ref. 26999).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-22. Resilience: Low (K=0.11; tmax=11).
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
Rass 1971
Woods and Sonoda 1973
Heemstra 1986e
Maul 1986b
Boschung 1992
Bauchot, M.-L. (1987) Poissons osseux. p. 891-1421. In W. Fischer, M.L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds.) Fiches FAO d'identification pour les besoins de la pêche. (rev. 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. Vol. II. Commission des Communautés Européennes and FAO, Rome.
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.
Heemstra, P.C. (1986) Trachichthyidae. p. 410-413. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Klausewitz, W. (1994) Comparative studies on the vertical distribution of bathybenthic deep-sea fishes of the Red Sea. Proc. IPFC 4:462-468.
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.
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