Scopelosaurus lepidus
No common name
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Notosudidae (Waryfishes)
Scopelosaurus
Scopelosaurus lepidus
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
Elongate, slender, and slightly compressed posteriorly. Scales cycloid and deciduous. Lateral line scales number 60 to 64, vertebrae number 58 to 61, and pyloric caecae number 18 to 30. Body depth is 7.2% to 13.3%, snout length is 6.7% to 10%, upper jaw is 12.7% to 16.2%, head length is 24.5% to 27.7%, and pectoral fin length is 18.6% to 30.6% of SL. Jaw teeth are small, in single band in premaxilla and in double band in lower jaw. Vomer and palatine have patches of small teeth. Gill rakers are long and lathlike and number 1 on epibranch, 1 in corner, and 17 or 18 on lower limb. Pectoral fin inserts above midline and has 13 to 15 rays. Dorsal fin originates at midlength and has 10 to 12 rays. Pelvic fin inserts distinctly anterior to dorsal fin origin and has 9 rays. Anal fin has 17 to 19 rays. Dorsal adipose fin is located above end of anal fin base. Caudal fin is forked.
Jet black; pectoral fin has large black patch basally and large whitish band distally. Specimens often lose scales and pigmented skin in capture and appear light in color.
Distribution
Larvae were captured off Florida.
Not reported from the Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Mesopelagic depths both in the water column and near the bottom. Larvae occur between 70 and 200 m.
Biology
Food consists of copepods for small specimens, and euphausiids, hyperiids, and mesopelagic fishes for large specimens.
Maximum known size is 365 mm SL.
Adults found between 500-800 m depth while the oceanic young stages between 70-200 m (Ref. 6689). Bathypelagic (Ref. 58426). The young feeds mainly on copepods while the large ones on euphausiids, hyperiids and mesopelagic fishes. Adults undertake far-ranging feeding migrations (outside the spawning season) to the slope areas of Europe, North America and West Africa. Spawning probably occurs in midwater far offshore, with a concentration in the Sargasso Sea (Ref. 6689).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-21.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: bycatch.
References
Bertelsen et al. 1976
Krefft 1984
Krefft, G. (1990) Notosudidae. p. 361-364. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Nakamura, I., T. Inada, M. Takeda and H. Hatanaka (1986) Important fishes trawled off Patagonia. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo. 369 p.
Coad, B.W. and J.D. Reist (2004) Annotated list of the arctic marine fishes of Canada. Can. MS Rep. Fish Aquat. Sci. 2674:iv:+112 p.
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