Saurida caribbaea
Smallscale Lizardfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Synodontidae (Lizardfishes)
Saurida
Saurida caribbaea (Smallscale Lizardfish)
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
Moderately elongate, moderately slender, and almost cylindrical; relatively short dorsal fin and large oblique mouth; snout blunt, narrow, and about equal to eye diameter; body depth 9.3% to 13.2%, head length 23% to 24.6%, and snout length 4.8% to 7.3% of SL; lower jaw extends beyond upper jaw; teeth arranged in bands in upper and lower jaws, with inner teeth longest; similar teeth on tongue and branchial arches, and in two bands in palatine; branchiostegal rays 13 to 16; pectoral fin has 12 or 13 rays; dorsal fin has 10 to 12 rays; pelvic fin has 9 rays; anal fin has 11 or 12 rays; dorsal adipose fin present; scales cover cheeks, gill covers, body, and base of caudal fin; lateral line scales 51 to 60; enlarged axillary scales at bases of pectoral and pelvic fins
Light brownish on dorsal parts of head and trunk to lateral line; dark blotches on back; irregular brown spots above and on lateral line; ventral parts of head and trunk yellowish white; dorsal fin dusky with dark stripe distally
Distribution
Western Atlantic off northeastern Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico, most common east of the Mississippi River and in the eastern section of Campeche Bay
Habitat Associations
Between 4 and 460 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 130 mm SL
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.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by a combination of characters
References
Anderson et al. 1966
Hoese and Moore 1977
Uyeno et al. 1983
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Thresher, R.E. (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Neptune City, New Jersey. 399 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.
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.
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