Melanocetus murrayi
No common name
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Melanocetidae (Black Seadevils)
Melanocetus
Melanocetus murrayi
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.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Females: anterior margin of vomer deeply concave; lower jaw teeth 46-142, longest lower jaw tooth 7.7-16.7% SL; width of pectoral fin lobe 6.1-8.9% SL; illicium 23.1-32.2% SL; escal bulb 1.9-5.1% SL, not compressed, with low rounded distal prolongation unpigmented at tip, and minute or no crests; skin spines minute, restricted to caudal peduncle; second dorsal fin rays 12-14, pectoral fin rays 15-19, anal fin rays 4. Males: posterior nostril contiguous with eye; snout with median series of 3-5 denticles, lower denticular with 10-13 denticles; second dorsal fin rays 12-14, pectoral fin rays 15-18; skin naked or with few denticles.
Distribution
Cape Cod to mouth of the Amazon, including Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Generally between 1,000 and 2,500 m, rarely above 800 m
Biology
Maximum known size: females 120 mm SL, males about 30 mm SL
Meso- (Ref. 58302) and bathypelagic (Ref. 58302, 75154). Males dwarfed, non-parasitic (Ref. 4491).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-09.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other Melanocetus species by combination of characters
References
Bertelsen 1951
Bertelsen 1986c
Pietsch and Van Duzer 1980
Bertelsen, E. (1990) Melanocetidae. p. 492-493. In J.C. Quero, 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. 1.
Mundy, B.C. (2005) Checklist of the fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Bishop Mus. Bull. Zool. (6):1-704.
Pietsch, T.W. (2009) Oceanic anglerfishes. Extraordinary diversity in the deep sea. Oceanic Anglerfishes, i-xii; 1-557pp.
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