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Vinciguerria nimbaria

No common name
NS G5
Collection Details

Specimens

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Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Stomiiformes Phosichthyidae (Lightfishes) Vinciguerria Vinciguerria nimbaria

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

Moderately elongate and slender, large mouth, moderate-sized nontubular eyes, two rows of photophores. Premaxillary teeth uniserial, widely spaced, and of unequal length. Teeth in posterior section of maxilla slightly larger than premaxillary teeth and of unequal size. Vomer has one or two minute teeth on each side, and palatine has short row of minute teeth. Gill filaments relatively long and not fused at base. Gill rakers on first arch number 6 or 7 on epibranch and 15 to 17 on lower limb. Branchiostegal rays number 11. Dorsal adipose fin has short base. Anus closer to anal fin origin than to pelvic fin insertion. Dorsal fin origin anterior to anal fin origin, and dorsal fin base about equal to anal fin base. Dorsal fin rays number 13 to 15, and anal fin rays number 13 to 16. Photophores absent on symphysis of lower jaw. So located anterior to eye, and Po located ventral to eye. IV number 22 or 23, VAV number 9 to 11, OA number 23 or 24, and AC number 13 or 14.
Dorsal surface dark, flank silvery. Symphysis of lower jaw streaked with dark pigment, and premaxilla pigmented.

Distribution

Along the eastern seaboard of the United States from about 42°N to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Habitat Associations

Tropical to warm temperate seas, generally captured between 200 and 400 m during the day and in the upper 100 m at night.
Premetamorphic postlarvae occur in the upper 50 m, and postmetamorphic postlarvae are most frequent between 300 and 400 m.

Biology

Food consists of copepods.
Maximum known size is 48 mm SL.
Epi- to abyssopelagic (Ref. 58302) but usually mesopelagic, mainly found at 200-400 m by day and upper 100 m by night (Ref. 4778). Both juveniles and adults exhibit diel vertical migration (Ref. 4778). Feeds mainly on copepods, feeding intensively in the afternoon to early evening (Ref. 4778). Adult photophore complement attained at about 18-20 mm SL (Ref. 4778).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-15. Resilience: High (tm<1; K=5.9; tmax=0.6).

Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes

Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described.

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: bycatch.

References

Grey 1964
Rass 1971
Murdy et al. 1983
Badcock 1984c
Schaefer et al. 1986a
Schaefer, S., R.K. Johnson and J. Badcock (1986) Photichthyidae. p. 243-247. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Quéro, J.-C., J.C. Njock and M.M. de la Hoz (1990) Photichthyidae. p. 343-348. 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.
Badcock, J. (1984) Photichthyidae. p. 318-324. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. volume 1. UNESCO, Paris.
Shevchenko, N.F. (1986) Feeding of Vinciguerria nimbaria (Gonostomatidae) in the tropical zone of the Atlantic Ocean. J. Ichthyol. 26(4):50-56.
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.
Czudaj, S., C. Möllmann and H.O. Fock (2022) Length-weight relationships of 55 mesopelagic fishes from the eastern tropical North Atlantic: across- and within-species variation (body shape, growth stanza, condition factor). J. Fish Biol. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15068

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