Skip to content

Humpback Whiptail Coryphaenoides dossenus McMillian, 1999
[CAAB 37 232039]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

Widespread in tropical and temperate waters of Southern Hemisphere from the eastern Atlantic, across Indian Ocean to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Vanuatu; bathydemersal in 700-1600 m, frequently taken at 700-1200 m in NSW waters..

Size:

Females to more than 85 cm TL, males smaller, to 50 cm TL.

Food and feeding:

Reproduction and early life history:

Sexually dimorphic species, males less robust and much smaller than females;

Characteristics:

D II, 9-11; P l7-24; V 8 (rarely 7 or 9); GR 11-13; BR 6; PC 10-18
Head long, shallow, ridges not prominent and not reinforced by enlarged, thickened scales; snout low, rounded to bluntly pointed, scarcely protruding beyond upper jaw, ventral margin of snout and suborbital region mostly naked; suborbital region flat, near vertical; mouth large, upper jaw reaching to about rear of orbit, eye small, shorter than snout; chin barbel long, outer gill slit not restricted. Leading edge of second spinous dorsal fin ray serrate, outer ray of pelvic fin somewhat elongate, barely or not reaching anal fin origin. Body scales large, strongly adherent, densely covered with small needle-like spinules. Anus immediately before anal fin origin, light organ absent. Mature females deep-bodied with pronounced hump on nape, males considerably smaller, with shallower, more elongated body and no hump.

Colour:

Varying from uniformly pale whitish-grey to dark; fins dusky to blackish, anal fin sometimes darkly pigmented along outer margin; mouth and gill cavities dark.

Similar species:

Fisheries:

Although of no commercial importance, captured frequently but in small numbers, in mid-slope waters off New South Wales in 695-1200 m.

Conservation Status:

Remarks:

Other common names:

Longbeard Whiptail

Original citation:

Coryphaenoides dossenus McMillan, 1999, N. Z. J. Mar. Freshwater Res. 33: 482, figs. 1-2, Challenger Plateau, 41°2.0'S, 169°30.3'E, 908-910 m.

Etymology:

References:

Iwamoto, T. & Graham, K.J. 2001. Grenadiers (Families Bathygadidae and Macrouridae,  Gadiformes, Pisces) of New South Wales, Australia. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 52(21): 407-509, figs. 1-114.

McMillan, P. In Gomon, MF, C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter. 1994. The fishes of Australia's south coast. State Print, Adelaide. 992 pp.

Merrett, N.R. & T. Iwamoto. 2000. Pisces Gadiformes: Grenadier fishes of the New Caledonian region, southwest Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy and distribution, with ecological notes, pp. 723-781 In Crosnier, R. (ed). Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM, 21. Mem. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 184.

Shcherbachev, Y.N. & T. Iwamoto. 1995. Indian Ocean grenadiers of the subgenus Coryphaenoides, genus Coryphaenoides (Macrouridae, Gadiformes, Pisces). Proc. Acad. Calif. Sci. 48(3): 97-108, figs. 1-9.