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Humphead Whiptail Coryphaenoides filicauda Günther, 1878
[CAAB 37 232049]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

temperate and cool-temperate waters of the Southern Hemisphere, Southwest Atlantic - Argentina, Eastern Indian Ocean and Southwest Pacific - Australia, seamounts and rises of Tasman Sea, New Zealand, Southern Ocean; primarily an abyssal bathypelagic species on the continental slope and continental rise in 990-5100 m, mostly in 3500-5000 m.

Size:

to about 41 cm TL

Food and feeding:

Reproduction and early life history:

Characteristics:

1D II, 8-10, P i16-i19, V9-10, GR-I (total, outer/inner series) 3-6/9-10, BR, PC 6-8
Head without stout ridges of modified scales; snout long, pointed, tip and lateral angles of snout armed with small tubercular scales with upturned spinules, otherwise naked; mouth large, upper jaw long, reaching hind margin of orbit; upper jaw teeth in narrow band, outer series slightly enlarged, lower jaw teeth in narrow band tapering to one row posteriorly; outer gill slit not restricted, outer gill rakers of first arch, few, weakly developed; chin barbel short, thin; spinous ray of first dorsal fin elongate, leading edge with few or no serrations; pectoral fin relatively long, rays fine, none thickened or notably prolonged beyond others, outer pelvic ray slightly produced; body scales large, deciduous, spinules on exposed field reduced or lacking; anus just before anal fin origin, light organ absent.

Colour:

in alcohol; overall pale to brownish, flesh translucent over anal pterygiophores; blackish over abdomen, operculum, and somewhat dusky on underside of head; fins pale except for blackish spinous ray of first dorsal, uppermost ray of pectoral, and outer ray of pelvic.

Similar species:

Fisheries:

Conservation Status:

none

Remarks:

Other common names:

Grenadier

Original citation:

Coryphaenoides filicauda

Günther, A. (1878). Preliminary notice of deep-sea fishes collected during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5)2(2): 17-28 [27]

Type locality: Off Valparaíso, Chile, 33°32'S, 74°43'W

Etymology:

References:

Gon, O. & P.C. Heemstra. 1990. Fishes of the Southern Ocean. J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown. 462 pp., 12 pls.

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

Iwamoto, T. & Y.I. Sazonov. 1988. A review of the southeastern Pacific Coryphaenoides (sensu lato) (Pisces, Gadiformes, Macrouridae). Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 45(3): 35-82, figs. 1-9.

Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2007. FishBase World Wide Web electronic publication www.fishbase.org, version (05/2007).