Trachinocephalus myops
Snakefish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Synodontidae (Lizardfishes)
Trachinocephalus
Trachinocephalus myops (Snakefish)
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
Moderately elongate, moderately slender, and slightly compressed, with a long anal fin and a large, strongly oblique mouth. Snout is blunt and very short, considerably shorter than eye diameter. Body depth is 15.5% to 21.5%, head length is 25.2% to 28.6%, and snout length is 2.2% to 3.1% of SL. Lower jaw extends beyond upper jaw and has round tip. Teeth in jaws are large, compressed, pointed, and in narrow row, with inner ones largest and depressible. Palatine has single band of teeth. Tongue has large depressible teeth. Branchiostegal rays number 14. Pectoral fin has 11 to 13 rays, and when depressed, tips of rays extend beyond pelvic fin origin. Dorsal fin has 11 to 13 rays, and when depressed, tips of anterior rays extend to tips of some of succeeding rays. Pelvic fin has 8 rays, and medial rays are much longer than outer rays. Anal fin has 14 to 16 rays, and base is considerably longer than dorsal fin base. Dorsal adipose fin is present. Lateral line scales number 53 to 59 and are not enlarged. Enlarged axillary scales occur on bases of pectoral and pelvic fins.
Mottled grayish brown on head and upper trunk to below lateral line, with about five indistinct broad saddles of dark brown on body midway between head and dorsal fin origin, at dorsal fin origin, posterior to dorsal fin base, midway between dorsal fin base and adipose fin, and below adipose fin. Operculum has black spot at upper corner. Belly is pale yellowish white.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys, Bermuda, the northern Gulf of Mexico, and the Bahamas and West Indies to Brazil.
northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical waters, from near shore to 388 m but is most common between 36 and 91m
common on reefs
Biology
Maximum known size is 300 mm SL
Rest on or more often burrow into substrate, leaving eyes exposed (Ref. 4472).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-09-06. Resilience: Medium (K=1.6; tm=2; tmax=7).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
distinguished from the other species of the family by the following combination of characters
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Anderson et al. 1966
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
Hoese and Moore 1977
Uyeno et al. 1983
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Thresher, R.E. (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Neptune City, New Jersey. 399 p.
Sulak, K.J. (1990) Synodontidae. p. 365-370. 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.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Frota, L.O., P.A.S. Costa and A.C. Braga (2004) Length-weight relationships of marine fishes from the central Brazilian coast. Naga, WorldFish Center Q. 27(1-2):20-26.
Polanco, F.A., P.A. Acero and R. Betancur-R (2016) No longer a circumtropical species: revision of the lizardfishes in the Trachinocephalus myops species complex, with description of a new species from the Marquesas Islands. J. Fish Biol. 89(2):1302-1323. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13038
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