Hymenocephalus billsam
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gadiformes (Cod, Hakes and others)
Macrouridae (Grenadiers)
Hymenocephalus
Hymenocephalus billsam
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
Very elongate and attenuated, with a moderate-sized head, a subterminal mouth, and a very slender body. Snout is moderately blunt. Jaws are large and extend to posterior margin of orbits. Head is about 15% of TL. Snout length is 26% to 35%, orbit is 28% to 37%, premaxilla length is 51% to 59%, and body depth at first dorsal fin origin is 60% to 74% of head length. Chin barbel is rudimentary. Jaws have narrow band of small, pointed teeth. First gill slit is greatly restricted. Gill rakers are tuberculate and number 23 to 28 on first arch. Branchiostegal rays number 7. Pectoral fin is of moderate length and has 14 to 17 rays. First dorsal fin has 10 to 13 rays, first of which is splintlike and second, smooth and spinous. Second dorsal fin is distinctly separated from first and has shorter rays than anal fin. Pelvic fin has 12 to 14 rays, with first ray elongated. Abdomen has light organ consisting of prepelvic and preanal lenslike windows connected by narrow naked black strip. Anus and urogenital pores are just anterior to anal fin origin. Scales are large and deciduous. Swim bladder has two retia mirabilia.
Head is brownish, with dark band behind leading edge of snout. Posterior parts of trunk and tail are dark with small, densely distributed melanophores dorsally, and light with large, sparsely distributed melanophores ventrally. Isthmus, shoulder girdle, and chest are patterned with striae, consisting of fine, parallel dark lines over silvery ground color.
Distribution
Straits of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Western Atlantic from 400 to 900 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 150 mm TL
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-10-09. Resilience: Medium (Assuming tmax>3).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Marshall and Iwamoto 1973
McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm (1998) Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. 1112p.
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.
Schwarzhans, W. (2014) Head and otolith morphology of the genera Hymenocephalus, Hymenogadus and Spicomacrurus (Macrouridae), with the description of three new species. Zootaxa 3888(1):1-73.
De La Hoz-M, J., J. Motta and J. Paramo (2016) Length-weight relationships for 36 deep sea fish in the Colombian Caribbean Sea. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 32:1356-1359. DOI: 10.1111/jai.13217
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