Trichiurus lepturus
Atlantic Cutlassfish
NS
G5
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes)
Trichiurus
Trichiurus lepturus (Atlantic Cutlassfish)
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.
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.
Characters
Elongate, slender, and compressed body; posterior margin of opercular margin concave; pelvic and caudal fins absent; dorsal profile of head to dorsal fin origin slightly elevated; frontal crests on cranium converge posterior to orbits; interorbital space flat; sagittal crest on posterodorsal aspect of cranium prominent and extends to nape; nostril elliptical and closer to anterior margin of eye than to tip of snout; large mouth with lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw; short dermal processes at tips of both jaws; upper jaw with two or three fangs on side of symphysis and sharp-pointed lateral teeth; lower jaw with one fang on side of symphysis and sharp-pointed, compressed lateral teeth; teeth lacking on vomer; minute teeth on palatine; small gill rakers on first arch; pectoral fin with one spine and 11 to 13 rays; dorsal fin originates anterior to opercular opening with three spines and 130 to 135 rays; anal fin partially embedded with 100 to 105 rays; lateral line originates above upper corner of opercular opening, descends to lower third of flank, and continues straight to tip of tail
Steel blue with silvery reflections in life; pectoral fin nearly transparent; other fins pale yellow; silvery gray in preservative
Distribution
Cape Cod to northern Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Habitat Associations
Benthopelagic, between shoreline and 350 m depth
Biology
Pelagic squids and ray-finned fishes (engraulids, clupeids, myctophids, bregmacerotids, atherinids, carangids, sphyraenids, sciaenids, scombrids); juveniles and small adults feed on euphausids, small pelagic crustaceans, and small ray-finned fishes
Maximum known size is 1,200 mm SL
Generally over muddy bottoms of shallow coastal waters (Ref. 9351). Often enter estuaries (Ref. 9351). Juveniles feed mostly on euphausiids, small pelagic planktonic crustaceans and small fishes; adults feed mainly on fishes and occasionally on squids and crustaceans (Ref. 6181). Adults and juveniles have opposing complementary vertical diurnal feeding migration. Large adults usually feed near the surface during the daytime and migrate to the bottom at night. Juveniles and small adults form schools 100 m above the bottom during the daytime and form loose feeding aggregations at night near the surface. Pelagic eggs (Ref. 35388) and larvae (Ref. 6768). Max weight of 1.5 kg given in Ref. 28023 seems too low. The current angling world record was caught in Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay and weighed 3.69 kg. Commercial fisherman have caught fish of up to 5 kg (Capt. Eduardo Baumeier, pers. Comm., 2001). Marketed salted or dried and also frozen (Ref. 9351). Excellent taste when fried or grilled; also for sashimi when fresh.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. Resilience: Medium (K=0.25-0.29; tm=2-3.7; tmax=15; Fec=21,672).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: highly commercial; gamefish.
References
Tucker 1956
Dawson 1967a
Fujii 1983f
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Nakamura and Parin 1993
Nakamura and Parin 2001c
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999
Parin et al. 2002b
Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin (1993) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p.
Thollot, P. (1996) Les poissons de mangrove du lagon sud-ouest de Nouvelle-Calédonie. ORSTOM Éditions, Paris.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
Portsev, P.I. (1980) The feeding of the cutlassfish, Trichiurus lepturus (Trichiuridae), off the west coast of India. J. Ichthyol. 20(5):60-65.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
Yi, M.R., K.C. Hsu, S. Gu, X.B. He, Z.S. Luo, H.D. Lin and Y.R., Yan (2022) Complete mitogenomes of four Trichiurus species: A taxonomic review of the T. lepturus species complex. ZooKeys [1084]:1-26. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1084.71576
Comments On Trichiurus lepturus