Pempheris schomburgkii
Glassy Sweeper
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Pempheridae (Sweepers)
Pempheris
Pempheris schomburgkii (Glassy Sweeper)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
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Characters
Body shape: short and / or deep. Ventral profile deeply curved in front of anal fin, tapering upward to slender caudal peduncle. Mouth very oblique (Ref. 26938). Scales ctenoid along the back posterior to dorsal fin and ventrally on head and body, otherwise cycloid, coppery with a dark band at base of anal fin; young nearly transparent, silvery over abdomen (Ref. 13442).
Distribution
Western Atlantic: southeastern Florida, USA and Bahamas to Brazil.
Habitat Associations
Marine. reef-associated. depth range 3-30 m. Found in: coral reefs.
Biology
To 120 mm SL (150 mm TL).
Occurs in clear water with coral bottom. Form aggregations in dark crevices and caves (Ref. 9710). Nocturnal (Ref. 9626). Its name probably refers to the juveniles, which are so transparent that the backbone can be seen in the living fish (Ref. 26938). Feeds on zooplankton, particularly the larval stages of invertebrates (Ref. 13442).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of potential interest; aquarium: potential.
References
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.
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.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
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.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
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