Selene brownii
Caribbean Moonfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Carangidae (Jacks)
Selene
Selene brownii (Caribbean Moonfish)
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
Very deep bodied and extremely compressed, with ventral profile more convex than dorsal; pelvic fins very short; scales very small and embedded. Dorsal profile of head nearly vertical and concave to above eye, strongly rounded to nape. Snout blunt. Eye with poorly developed adipose eyelid. Maxilla extends to below anterior margin of eye. Jaw teeth relatively small, in narrow irregular bands. Preopercular margin membranous. Gill rakers on first arch lathlike, 6-8 on upper limb, 24-28 on lower limb. Branchiostegal rays 7. Pectoral fin falcate, with 17 rays. First dorsal fin with 8 spines, first 4 spines elongated, second spine equal to body depth in specimens <60 mm FL. Second dorsal fin with 1 spine and 21-23 rays, anterior rays forming acute lobe. Anal fin with 2 free spines followed by 1 spine and 17-19 rays. Free anal fin spines absent in specimens >130 mm FL. Pelvic fins very short in juveniles, rudimentary in adults. Scales cycloid, cover most of lower half of body, mostly absent anterior to pelvic fin base and junction between curved and straight sections of lateral line. Straight section of lateral line with 7-12 weak scutes on caudal peduncle. Caudal peduncle with 2 keels. Vertebrae 24: 10 precaudal, 14 caudal.
Silvery, with faint dark spot on edge of operculum and upper section of caudal peduncle. Juveniles with black spot on straight section of lateral line.
Distribution
Western Atlantic over the continental shelf from the southern Gulf of Mexico off Veracruz and the Greater and Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe only) to Brazil.
Habitat Associations
Continental shelf
Biology
230 mm FL
Adults occur over continental shelves (Ref. 5217). No real fishery (Ref. 51310). Edibility not known (Ref. 51310).
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: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries.
References
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz 2002c
Smith-Vaniz, W.F. (2003) Carangidae. Jacks and scads (bumpers, pompanos, leatherjacks, amberjacks, pilotfishes, rudderfishes). p. 1426-1468. In K.E. Carpenter (ed.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals.
Gross, M.R. and R. Shine (1981) Parental care and mode of fertilization in ectothermic vertebrates. Evolution 35(4):775-793.
Viana, A.P., F. Lucena-Frédou, F. Ménard, T. Frédou, V. Ferreira, A.S. Lira and F. Le Loc'h (2016) Length-weight relations of 70 fish species (Actinopterygii) from tropical coastal region of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Acta Ichthyol. Et Pisc. 46(3):271-277.
Kimura, S., S. Takeuchi and T. Yadome (2022) Generic revision of the species formerly belonging to the genus Carangoides and its related genera (Carangiformes: Carangidae). Ichthyol. Res. 69(4):433-487. DOI: 10.1007/s10228-021-00850-1
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