Symphurus piger
Deepwater Tonguefish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Pleuronectfiormes (Flatfishes)
Cynoglossidae (Tonguefishes)
Symphurus
Symphurus piger (Deepwater Tonguefish)
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
12 caudal fin rays; dermal papillae on blind side of snout; vertebrae number 45 to 49 (usually 47 to 49); dorsal fin originates above posterior margin of upper eye and has 80 to 88 rays; pelvic fin is moderately long, and posteriormost ray is connected to body or anal fin by a membrane; anal fin has 68 to 74 rays; both sides of body and head are covered with large ctenoid scales; scales in longitudinal series range from 62 to 75; measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 18.2%–25.6%, head width 24.2%–31.3%, body depth 24.4%–35%; and as percent of head length: snout length 17.2%–28.2%, upper jaw length 18.8%–33.8%, eye diameter 10.1%–16.7%
Ocular side is dark brown, with 3 to 10 well-developed dark brown and narrow bands on head and body that extend onto fins as blotches; dorsal and anal fins are lightly pigmented anteriorly but are progressively darker posteriorly; opercular cavity and isthmus are lightly pigmented; blind side is uniformly white; peritoneum is black
Distribution
Western Atlantic from St. Augustine, FL, and the Bahamas to French Guiana, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Greater and Lesser Antilles
In the Gulf of Mexico it has been captured from the Mississippi Delta, southern Florida, and the west coast of Campeche
Habitat Associations
Between 92 and 549 m; most common between 141 and 300 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 121 mm SL
Occurs in deep water; on relatively deep soft mud bottoms on the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope (Ref. 26268).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-20. Resilience: Medium (Assuming tmax>3).
References
Ginsburg 1951
Topp and Hoff 1972
Hoese and Moore 1977, 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Munroe 1992, 1998, 2002f
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 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.
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.
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