Hypoplectrus chlorurus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Hypoplectrus
Hypoplectrus chlorurus
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
Head is compressed and of moderate length. Small canine teeth occur in jaws. Vomerine and palatine teeth are villiform and arranged in narrow bands. Preoperculum is angular, with serrae on ventral and posterior margins and several small antrorse spines on ventral margin near angle. Gill rakers on first arch are moderately long and slender and number 6 to 8 on upper limb and 12 or 13 on lower limb. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 38%–39%, snout length 13%–14%, eye length 9%–10%, upper jaw length 17%–19%, pectoral fin length 31%–32%, pelvic fin length 24%–27%, body depth 45%–47%. Pectoral fin is long and rounded, with 13 or 14 rays. Dorsal fin is unnotched between spinous and rayed sections, originates anterior to pectoral fin base, and has 10 spines and 14 or 15 rays. Anal fin has 7 rays. Caudal fin is moderately concave, with lower lobe about equal to upper lobe. Scales are relatively small and ctenoid. Lateral line is gently arched anteriorly and has 48 to 53 pored scales.
Body uniformly dark brown or bluish brown and caudal fin bright yellow. Color in life is dark bluish or brownish black, except caudal fin is bright yellow or turquoise. Pectoral fins are generally transparent but occasionally yellow.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from the northwestern and southern Gulf of Mexico, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the coast of Panama, and Venezuela.
Habitat Associations
Shallow water
Biology
Food consists mostly of crustaceans.
Maximum known size is about 150 mm TL.
Considered to be a simultaneous hermaphrodite and to mimic the pomacentrid Microspathodon chrysurus.
A solitary species (Ref. 26340) found near the bottom of coral rich areas (Ref. 9710). Feeds on crustaceans and fishes (Ref. 26180).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-21. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Woods 1942
Randall 1968a, 1996
Hoese and Moore 1977, 1998
Thresher 1978
Domeier 1994
Lobel 2002
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Goodson, G. (1976) Fishes of the Atlantic coast. Canada to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. Stanford Univ. Press, California. 204 p.
Domeier, M.L. (1994) Speciation in the serranid fish Hypoplectrus. Bull. Mar. Sci. 54(1):103-141.
García-Cagide, A., R. Claro and B.V. Koshelev (1994) Reproducción. p. 187-262. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Inst. Oceanol. Acad. Cienc. Cuba. and Cen. Invest. Quintana Roo (CIQRO) México.
Barlow, G.W. (1975) On the sociobiology of some hermaphroditic serranid fishes, the hamlets, in Puerto Rico. Mar. Biol. 33(4):295-300.
González Corredor, J.D., A.P. Acero and J. Torres Rodriguez (2017) First record of yellowtail hamlet Hypoplectrus chlorurus (Serranidae) in the Colombian continental Caribbean. Bull. Mar. Coast. Res. 46(2):183-187.
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