Stemonosudis gracilis
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Paralepididae (Barracudinas)
Stemonosudis
Stemonosudis gracilis
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 elongate, slender, and moderately compressed, with lower jaw slightly upturned and dorsal fin origin about mid-distance between pelvic fin insertion and anal fin origin. Body depth is 4.1 %, head length is 16.8% to 17.2%, and snout length is 9.3% to 9.4% of SL. Premaxilla has 3 or 4 depressible canine teeth anteriorly and 20 or 21 fixed teeth posteriorly. Lower jaw has 10 or 11 fixed teeth in outer row and 11 to 17 depressible teeth in inner row. Vomer lacks teeth. Anteriorly palatine has 3 fixed teeth, each accompanied by 1 longer depressible canine tooth, and posteriorly palatine has closely spaced, short, fixed canine teeth. Gill membranes are joined anterior to eye and are free of isthmus. Pectoral fin inserts on lower one-half of flank and has 11 or 12 rays. Dorsal fin originates posterior to midlength and posterior to anus and has 10 rays. Pelvic fin inserts posterior to midlength of body and has 9 rays. Anal fin has 36 or 37 rays. Luminous organs are absent. Scales are absent on body, and embedded lateral line scales are not developed. Vertebrae number 98 to 107.
Body is lightly pigmented, with 4 or 5 saddlelike patches on back, 4 or 5 ventral patches between dorsal fin and caudal fin, and 14 or 15 peritoneal spots.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, between 25°N and 5°N
Habitat Associations
Tropical to subtropical seas, from near the surface to 1,300 m
Biology
96 mm SL for a juvenile specimen
Oceanic species (Ref. 26340) occurring from about 20 m (young) to about 500 m depth. Known only from juvenile specimens, probably attains more than 20 cm (Ref. 4056).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by a combination of characters
References
Rofen 1966a
Rass 1971
Post 1986a
Post, A. (1986) Paralepididae. p. 274-278. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Post, A. (1990) Paralepididae. p. 373-384. 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.
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