Liopropoma rubre
Peppermint Basslet
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)
Liopropoma
Liopropoma rubre (Peppermint Basslet)
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
Spinous dorsal fin interrupted by a scaled area. Head conical and of moderate length. Snout acute and slightly longer than eye diameter. Anterior and posterior nares widely separated, with anterior one tubular and adjacent to lip, and posterior one just anterior to eye. Maxilla extends to posterior margin of pupil. Supramaxilla present. Jaw, vomerine, and palatine teeth villiform. Preopercular margin smooth. Operculum has weak upper and strong lower spine. Gill rakers on first arch number 5 on upper limb and 11 on lower limb. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 37%–43%, snout length 9%–10%, eye diameter 8%–10%, interorbital width about 9%, body depth 27%–33%. Pectoral fin has 12 or 13 rays. Dorsal fin originates slightly posterior to pectoral fin base and has eight spines and 12 rays, with seventh and eighth spines short, free of membranes, and surrounded by scales. Anal fin has 8 rays. Caudal fin is truncate. Scales are ctenoid. Head is scaled except for lips. Lateral line is arched anteriorly and has 45 to 47 pored scales.
Color is pale yellow, with five deep reddish brown stripes alternating with narrow pink stripes. Fins are pinkish red. Outer aspects of rayed section of dorsal fin, anal fin, and caudal fin have oval black blotches.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida and Bermuda to Venezuela, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles.
In the Gulf of Mexico it occurs on the Flower Garden Reefs and in Campeche Bay.
Habitat Associations
Occurs between 2 and 43 m
Biology
Maximum known length is about 80 mm SL
A solitary species (Ref. 26340) inhabiting deep recesses of coral reefs. Common, but secretive and rarely seen (Ref. 9710). The maximum size for this species is about 8 cm standard length or 100 mm TL (value from Ref. 26938) (P.Heemstra, pers.comm. 12/09).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-21.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Böhlke 1956 (as Chorististium rubrum)
Stark and Courtenay 1962 (as C. rubrum)
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968 (as C. rubrum)
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Bright and Cashman 1974
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Cervigón 1991
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Heemstra 2002c
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
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