Pontinus longispinis
Longspine Scorpionfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Scorpaenidae (Scorpionfishes)
Pontinus
Pontinus longispinis (Longspine Scorpionfish)
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
Head is relatively slender, snout is moderately long, and eye is large. Occiput is relatively flat. Teeth are small and pointed and arranged in bands in jaws, palatine, and vomer. Preorbital bone has two spinous points over maxilla. Suborbital ridge has three or four spinous points. Nasal, preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, parietal, nuchal, pterotic, sphenotic, lower posttemporal, supracleithral, and cleithral spines are present. Preoperculum has 4 or 5 spines. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 40%–45%, snout length 10%–13%, orbit diameter 11%–15%, interorbital width 3%–5%, jaw length 19%–21%, body depth 29%–34%. Gill rakers on first arch number 6 or 7 on upper limb and 8 to 10 on lower limb. Slit behind fourth arch is present. Pectoral fin has 17 unbranched rays. Dorsal fin has 12 spines and 9 rays. Anal fin has 3 spines and 5 rays. Scales are ctenoid and occur on body, cheek, postorbital region, and occiput. Vertebrae number 24, and gas bladder is present.
Light orange and marked by dusky spots on head and body. Upper section of head and body and rayed section of dorsal fin and caudal fin are covered with dusky spots.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from South Carolina to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf of Mexico it occurs from the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Panhandle to southern Texas and from Veracruz to Yucatán.
Southern Texas
Habitat Associations
Between 77 and 440 m, generally over soft bottoms
Soft bottoms
Biology
Food consists of polychaetes, squids, euphausids, penaeid shrimps, porcellanid crabs, and ray-finned fishes. Shrimps and crabs are the most numerous food items.
Maximum known size is 250 mm SL
Found on soft substrate. Have a thick glandular tissue on posterior margin of fin spines which is believed to be venomous (Ref. 57406).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-21. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Eschmeyer 1969b
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Uyeno and Sato 1983b
Robins and Ray 1986
Cervigón 1991
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997
Poss and Eschmeyer 2002
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.
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.
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.
De La Hoz-M, J., J. Motta and J. Paramo (2016) Length-weight relationships for 36 deep sea fish in the Colombian Caribbean Sea. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 32:1356-1359. DOI: 10.1111/jai.13217
Comments On Pontinus longispinis