Ogcocephalus corniger
Longnose Batfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Ogcocephalidae (Batfishes)
Ogcocephalus
Ogcocephalus corniger (Longnose Batfish)
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
Depressed and subtriangular anteriorly, with a long rostrum; rostrum wide based, slender distally, and 44% to 59% of length of disc margin; cranium rises steeply above disc; head depth is 53% to 63% of length of disc margin; width of head is 29% to 35% of length of disc margin; eye is 59% to 91% of head width; iris has pupillary operculum on ventral margin; interorbital space is flat to moderately convex, 40% to 59% of cranial width, and 22% to 33% of head depth; mouth width is 50% to 67% of head depth and 27% to 39% of length of margin of disc; jaw length is 39% to 46% of head depth; teeth are conical, retrorse, villiform, and in bands in jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatine; gills are found on second and third gill arches and on anterior part of fourth gill arch; gill rakers are oval plates and bear conical, villiform teeth; pectoral fin has well-developed armlike pedicle, is well separated from body, and has 10 to 12 rays; ventral surface of pectoral rays has fleshy pads; illicial cavity is triangular and higher than it is wide; esca has two prominent lateral lobes and a single fleshy median lobe; second dorsal fin has 3 to 5 unbranched rays; pelvic fin is narrow based, flared distally, and has fleshy pads on ventral sides of fin rays; anal fin has 3 or 4 rays; body is covered with close-set tubercles and bucklers; lateral line scales extend in unbroken series from postorbital region to caudal fin and number 18 to 24, averaging 20.5; vertebrae number 19
Dark brown to gray with small pale spots uniformly distributed on dorsal surface; occasionally spots form reticular pattern; pectoral fin is pale to dusky proximally, and has broad dark brown or black margin punctuated with white tips of rays and fleshy pads; dorsal fin is dusky; caudal fin is dark proximally, light medially, and black distally; ventral surface is light
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles, and the northeastern Gulf of Mexico westward to Louisiana
Southern Gulf of Mexico off Yucatan
Habitat Associations
Depth range: 29 to 230 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 230 mm TL
Found typically on sandy bottoms (Ref. 27549).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-09-16. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941 (as O. vespertilio)
Bradbury 1980
Castro-Aguirre and Marquez-Espinoza 1981
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
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.
Murdy, E.O., R.S. Birdsong and J.A. Musick (1997) Fishes of Chesapeake Bay. Smithsonian Institution Press Washington and London. 324 p.
Bradbury, M.G. (1980) A revision of the fish genus Ogcocephalus with descriptions of new species from the western Atlantic Ocean (Ogcocephalidae: Lophiiformes). Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 42(7):229-285.
Comments On Ogcocephalus corniger