Luvarus imperialis
Louvar
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Luvaridae (Louvars)
Luvarus
Luvarus imperialis (Louvar)
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
Oval in profile and strongly compressed, with a slender keeled caudal peduncle and a lunate caudal fin. Head is moderately elevated, and snout is blunt. Forehead is compressed and keel-like. Nostril is single and porelike. Eye is rather large and laterally located at about midheight of head. A deep groove is located above eye. Mouth is terminal and very small. Jaw teeth are very slender and few in number. Upper jaw is not protrusible, and maxilla is sheathed by lachrymal bone. Gill opening is relatively short, extending from upper margin of pectoral fin base to beneath eye, where gill membrane is joined to isthmus. Preopercular and opercular margins are membranous and lack spines. Gill rakers on first arch number 10, and each possesses one or more conical teeth. Pectoral fin inserts just below midflank and has 18 rays. Dorsal fin originates just posterior to eye in juveniles and has two spines and 20 to 22 rays, and anteriormost elements are lost with growth. In adults, dorsal fin originates posterior to midpoint of body. Pelvic fin is located beneath pectoral fin base, is reduced to a flap, and covers anus. Anal fin originates just behind pectoral fin base and has 22 rays. Anus is located in front of pectoral fin base and is partially covered by flap of pelvic fin. Body is covered with nonimbricating scale plates. Scale plates consist of basal plate bearing a single stalk that is expanded into distal stellate plate oriented horizontal to body surface. Scale plates along bases of dorsal and anal fins bear small forwardly directed thorns and large posteriorly directed thorns. Vertebrae number 22, with last two fused.
Color is silvery, with a bluish tinge dorsally and a row of pink spots below dorsal fin.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico
Oceanic waters of the Gulf of Mexico between 200 and 600 m
Habitat Associations
Tropical to temperate seas, oceanic waters between 200 and 600 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 180 cm TL
Fecundity ranges up to 47.5 million eggs in large specimens
Oceanic and epipelagic; found near surface or in deep water (Ref. 10821). Apparently solitary (Ref. 9314). Feed mainly on jellyfishes, ctenophores, and other gelatinous planktonic animals (Ref. 2850, 6885). Spawning starts at the end of spring and during the summer (Ref. 9314). Juveniles unlike adults in that the median fins are longer and further forward, the mouth toothed and the body and fins black-spotted (Ref. 6517). Rarely found in markets (Ref. 9314).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-07-13.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Topp and Girardin 1971
Heemstra 1986n
Robins and Ray 1986
Tyler et al. 1989
Nelson 1994
Fitch, J.E. and R.J. Lavenberg (1968) Deep-water teleostean fishes of California. California Natural History Guides:25. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. 115 p.
Decamps, P. (1986) Luvaridae. p. 998-999. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Volume 2. Unesco, Paris.
Bauchot, M.-L. (1995) Luvaridae. Emperadores. p. 1245. In W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) Guia FAO para Identification de Especies para lo Fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. 3 Vols. FAO, Rome.
Tyler, J.C., G.D. Johnson, I. Nakamura and B.B. Collette (1989) Morphology of Luvarus imperialis (Luvaridae), with a phylogenetic analysis of the Acanthuridae (Pisces). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, No. 485. Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington, D.C. 78 p.
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