Polyipnus clarus
Slope Hatchetfish
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Sternoptychidae (Marine Hatchetfishes)
Polyipnus
Polyipnus clarus (Slope Hatchetfish)
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
Short and deep bodied, with moderate-sized, vertical mouth and laterally directed, nontubular eyes; jaws with minute teeth; gill rakers medium sized to large, numbering 19; branchiostegal rays number 10; preopercular spine very short and triangulate; dorsal blade small, resulting from fusion between first dorsal radial and seventh supraneural; abdominal keel well defined; postabdominal spines distinct and directed posteroventrally; spinelets absent on anterior dorsal blade and on ventral keel; pectoral fin has 13 to 15, dorsal fin has 15 or 16, pelvic fin has 7, and anal fin has 16 or 17 rays; dorsal adipose fin has short base; ORB pigmented and directed into eye; BR number 6, OP number 3; IP number 6, PV number 10, and VAV number 5, with first elevated above others; OA isolated or grouped at different levels; AC in two distinct groups of 9 and 4 photophores; vertebrae number 32 or 33
Dark dorsally and silvery on flank, with short, dark, triangular-shaped pigment bar extending from dorsum to one-half distance to midline, and dark pigment spots on lateral midline
Distribution
Western Atlantic from the Gulf of Maine, the Straits of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Mesopelagic between 39 and 833 m, most common between 300 and 400 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 56 mm SL
Minimum depth from Ref. 58018.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: Medium (Assuming tmax>3).
References
Schultz 1964
Bright and Pequegnat 1969
Baird 1971
Baird 1986
Rass 1971
Murdy et al. 1983
Badcock 1984b (in part)
Boschung 1992
Harold 1994
Harold, A.S. (1994) A taxonomic revision of the sternoptychid genus Polyipnus (Teleostei: Stomiiformes) with an analysis of phylogenetic relationships. Bull. Mar. Sci. 54(2):428-534.
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.
Comments On Polyipnus clarus