Symphurus diomedeanus
Spottedfin Tonguefish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Pleuronectfiormes (Flatfishes)
Cynoglossidae (Tonguefishes)
Symphurus
Symphurus diomedeanus (Spottedfin Tonguefish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Synonymy
Symphurus pterospilotus Ginsburg, 1951 / None.
Characters
Body moderately deep; maximum depth in anterior 1/3 of body; tapering fairly rapidly
posterior to midpoint. Head moderately long and narrow; head length shorter than head width. Lower eye rel-
atively large; eyes usu ally equal in position. Pupillary operculum well developed. Ocular-side lower jaw
without obvious fleshy ridge. Ocular-side upper jaw usu ally without teeth, occasion ally with few teeth at
margin of premaxillary symphysis. Dorsal-fin rays 86 to 96. Anal-fin rays 69 to 80. Scales usu ally absent
on blind sides of dorsal- and anal-fin rays; occasion ally 1 or 2 scales at base of fin rays, especi ally in
larger specimens. Caudal-fin rays usu ally 10. Longitudinal scale rows 79 to 96. ID pattern usu ally 1-4-3.
Total vertebrae 47 to 50, usu ally 48 to 50. Colour: ocular surface usu ally uni formly dark brown; occasion ally
with faint traces of variable number of wide crossb ands. Crossb ands, when present, usu ally incomplete
across body and not continued onto dorsal and anal fins. Specimens collected from light-coloured sediments
usu ally with uni form light brown or yellowish coloration on ocular surface. Blind side uni formly creamy white
to yellowish; without pepper-dots. Peritoneum unpigmented. Dorsal and anal fins usu ally with 1 to 5
conspicuous, rounded, dark brown or black spots on each fin, situated about midway between bases and
distal tips of finrays. Caudal fin uni formly dark brown or black; unusual specimens with single, rounded,
non-ocellated spot eccentric ally placed on distal 1/3 of fin.
Body shape: short and / or deep.
Distribution
Inner continental shelf from just
nor th of Cape Hatteras, Nor th Carolina
(35(cid:1)23’N), along the sou theastern Atlantic coast
of the USA, through the Gulf of Mexico and Ca-
ribbean Sea to about Isla de Flores (34(cid:1)56’S,
55(cid:1)53’W), Uruguay. Rarely reported from Antil-
les with records from sh allow waters south of Ja-
maica and off the Virgin Isl ands. Common in
sh allow waters off Yucatán, Nicaragua, Panama,
Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana to nor thern
Brazil.
Habitat Associations
Occurring on the inner continental shelf on sediments consisting of calc are-
ous mud, calc areous s and, and those with a large component of shell hash, sometimes also on hard mud;
r arely on soft mud or quartz s and substrates; not found in reef areas. Collected at depths of 6 to 183 m, with
centre of abundance between 21 and 80 m; r arely taken deeper than 100 m. Juveniles r arely captured. Adults
r arely taken sh allower than 20 m, and not found in estuaries. Collected off west Florida at bottom temperatures
ranging from 17.5 to 28(cid:1)C and salinities of 32.3 to 36.7‰. Diet consists of benthic invertebrates, including
sm all crabs, polychaetes, gastropods, bivalves, gastropod eggs, and amphipods. This is the third largest of the
Atlantic symphurine tonguefishes. Females mature at 90 to 120 mm st andard length. Considered very com-
mon in depths greater than 18 and sh allower than 80 m along the sou theastern USA and eastern Gulf of Mex-
ico. Off the sou theastern USA, S. diomedeanus is numeric ally the most common tonguefish. Separate statistics not re-
ported for this species.
Biology
Maximum 207 mm st andard length, commonly to 190 mm st andard length.
Does not usually occur in shallow coastal or estuarine waters (Ref. 26268). Found on muddy bottoms. Feeds mainly on various benthic invertebrates particularly crabs and polychaete worms (Ref. 35237).
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
Contri butes to
bycatch of shrimp trawl fisheries and of minor importance in industrial fish l andings. Caught mainly with bottom trawls; not marketed in large quantities.
References
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Scott, W.B. and M.G. Scott (1988) Atlantic fishes of Canada. Can. Bull. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 219:731 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.
Munroe, T.A. (1998) Systematics and ecology of tonguefishes of the genus Symphurus (Cynoglossidae: Pleuronectiformes) from the western Atlantic Ocean. Fish. Bull. 96(1):1-182.
Keith, P., P.-Y. Le Bail and P. Planquette (2000) Atlas des poissons d'eau douce de Guyane. Tome 2, Fascicule I: Batrachoidiformes, Mugiliformes, Beloniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Synbranchiformes, Perciformes, Pleuronectiformes, Tetraodontiformes. Collection Patrimoines Naturels 43(I): 286p. Paris: Publications scientifiques du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.
Figueiredo, J.L. and N.A. Menezes (2000) Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. VI.Teleostei (5). Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Brazil. 116 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.
Comments On Symphurus diomedeanus