Ogcocephalus nasutus
Shortnose Batfish
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Ogcocephalidae (Batfishes)
Ogcocephalus
Ogcocephalus nasutus (Shortnose 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.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Depressed and subtriangular shape anteriorly; rostrum 18% to 53% of length of disc margin, variable in shape; cranium rises steeply above disc; head depth 46% to 59% of length of disc margin; width of cranium 25% to 40% of length of disc margin; eye 53% to 77% of width of cranium; interorbital space slightly concave to flat or slightly convex; mouth width 56% to 71% of head depth; jaw length 40% to 48% of head depth; teeth conical, retrorse, villiform; gill filaments on second and third gill arches and anterior part of fourth gill arch; gill rakers oval plates with conical, villiform teeth; pectoral fin with 11 to 14 rays; second dorsal fin with 2 to 5 rays; anal fin with 3 or 4 unbranched rays; body covered with close-set tubercles and bucklers; lateral line scales 24 to 38, averaging 30.8; vertebrae 18 or 19
Tan or brown to dark brown with roundish dark spots on shoulders; pectoral fin pale dusky to nearly black; second dorsal fin pale to dark; caudal fin dark basally, light medially, and black distally; ventral surface, pelvic fin, and anal fin pale
Distribution
Northern Gulf of Mexico, southern Florida
Northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Western Atlantic from shoreline to 275 m
Biology
Polychaetes, mollusks, crabs, fishes, and algae
380 mm TL
Inhabits flat bottoms of sand, coral rubble, seagrass or mud (Ref. 13442). Occurs from water's edge to at least 275 m depth. Feeds on mollusks, crabs, fishes, polychaete worms and algae (Ref. 13442). May be caught by hand (Ref. 13442). Rarely used for food (Ref. 26938). Traded as an aquarium fish at Ceará, Brazil (Ref. 49392).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-09-16. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by combination of characters
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Cervigon 1966
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968
Bradbury 1980
Uyeno et al. 1983
Robins et al. 1986
Cervigon 1991
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
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.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 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.
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 nasutus