Zenopsis conchifer
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Zeiformes (Dories)
Zeidae (Dories)
Zenopsis
Zenopsis conchifer
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
Deep bodied and compressed, with a large mouth and a row of bony bucklers along bases of dorsal and anal fins. Premaxilla has one row of mesially oriented canine teeth and three or four irregular series of relatively large canine teeth near symphysis. Lower jaw has two rows of small, curved, mesially oriented canine teeth. Vomer has three or four relatively large canine teeth. Head length is 35.7% to 41.7%, body depth is 50% to 66.7%, distance between pelvic fin origins is 3% to 4%, and caudal peduncle depth is 3.5% to 5% of SL. Eye diameter is 21.3% to 28.6% of head length. Pectoral fin has 12 rays. Dorsal fin has 9 or 10 spines and 25 to 27 rays. Pelvic fin has 6 or 7 rays, first of which is unbranched and unsegmented. Anal fin has 3 spines and 24 to 26 rays. Caudal fin has 1 unsegmented flexible ray anterior to principal rays but no procurrent spines. Scales are lacking. Series of bony bucklers with single spine are present along belly and along bases of dorsal and anal fins. Vertebrae number 35.
Color is silvery, with 12 to 24 obscure dark spots. Young specimens have large black blotch behind operculum.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from Nova Scotia to Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Habitat Associations
Near the bottom between 90 and 400 m in tropical to warm temperate seas
Biology
Food consists of squids and small fishes.
Maximum known size is 750 mm SL.
Frequently encountered in coastal waters (Ref. 27000). Occurs near the bottom or in midwater, over muddy substrates (Ref. 5377). Mesopelagic (Ref. 5951). Found in small schools (Ref. 4968). Feeds on fishes (Ref. 5213) and squids (Ref. 5951). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 27363.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-31. Resilience: Low (Assuming tm>4).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Heemstra 1980
Heemstra 1986h
Quero 1986a
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Heemstra, P.C. (1986) Zeidae. p. 435-438. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Quéro, J.-C. (1986) Zeidae. p. 769-772. 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. UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.
Maigret, J. and B. Ly (1986) Les poissons de mer de Mauritanie. Science Nat., Compiègne. 213 p.
Karrer, C. and A. Post (1990) Zeidae. p. 631-633. 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. 2.
Nakamura, I., T. Inada, M. Takeda and H. Hatanaka (1986) Important fishes trawled off Patagonia. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo. 369 p.
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.
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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