Bathygadus melanobranchus

• Overview
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• Bibliography
• More Info
• Notes

Overview

Family : Grenadiers or rattails ; Feeds on mysids , pelagic copepods , chaetognaths and small shrimps (Ref. 3587). Minimum depth reported from Ref. 1371.

Common Names

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Description

Family Macrouridae

Distribution: Arctic to Antarctic , in deep water . Body attenuated posteriorly. Anal fin and second dorsal confluent with tail, which tapers to a sharp point . True fin spines lacking. Leading dorsal fin ray may be spinous. Usually with chin barbel . Pelvic fin insertion more or less thoracic . Pelvic fin rays 5-17; lacking in Macrouroides. No caudal fin, except in one species. Scales small. Light organ , if present, underneath skin along midline of abdomen with opening just before anus. Branchiostegal rays 6-8. Abdominal vertebrae 10-16. Maximum length usually 0.8 m. Mostly benthopelagic, occurring from 200-2000 m .The family Macrouridae belongs to the Class Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes ) and the Order Gadiformes. It contains 38 genera and 285 species. It may be found in Marine environments and is primarily Marine. Members of this family are not used in the aquarium trade. Reproductively, most members of this family are nonguarders. The main mode of swimming of adult fish in this family is subcarangiform. Compared with other fish, the activity level of this family tends to be normal. Members of this family have been dated back to the upper Eocene epoch of the Tertiary period. Etymology of this family name : Greek, makros = great + Greek, oura = tail

Habitat

May be found at depths of 400 to 2600 meters. Usually found at depths of 700 to 1400 meters.

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -4,488 meters (0 to -14,724 feet).Mean = -871.290 meters (-2,858.563 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,196.860 based on 111 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre.

Biome: Saltwater . Bathydemersal .

Biology

Migration

Non-migratory.

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888
2. Bathygadus vaillanti Roule & Angel, 1933
3. Melanobranchus melanobranchus (Vaillant, 1888)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Group expert : Iwamoto T., Data last modified by FishBase 21-Jan-1998

Similar Species

Members of the genus Bathygadus

There are approximately 14 species in this genus:

B. antrodes · B. bowersi · B. cottoides (Codheaded Rattail) · B. dubiosus · B. entomelas · B. favosus · B. furvescens (Dusky Rattail) · B. garretti · B. macrops (Bullseye Grenadier) · B. melanobranchus (Vaillant's Grenadier) · B. micronemus · B. nipponicus · B. spongiceps · B. sulcatus

Bibliography

• Claro, Rodolfo, and Lynne R. Parenti / Claro, Rodolfo, Kenyon C. Lindeman, and L. R. Parenti, eds. 2001. Chapter 2: The Marine Ichthyofauna of Cuba. Ecology of the Marine Fishes of Cuba. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC, USA. 21-57. ISBN: 1-56098-985-8.
• Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba (1990). FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO
• Cohen, Daniel M., Tadashi Inada, Tomio Iwamoto, and Nadia Scialabba 1990. Gadiform Fishes of the World (Order Gadiformes): An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Cods, Hakes, Grenadiers and other Gadiform Fishes Known to Date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis, no. 125, vol. 10. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy. x + 442. ISBN: 92-5-102890-7.
• Geistdoerfer, P. (1986). Macrouridae. p. 644-676. 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.
• Geistdoerfer, P. (1990). Macrouridae. p. 541-563. 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.
• Haedrich, R.L. and N.R. Merrett (1988). Summary atlas of deep-living demersal fishes in the North Atlantic Basin. Journal of Natural History 22:1325-1362.
• Iwamoto, T. and E. Anderson (1994). Review of the grenadiers (Teleostei: Gadiformes) of southern Africa, with descriptions of four new species. Ichthyol. Bull. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol. (61):1-28.
• Ramjohn, D.D. (1999). Checklist of coastal and marine fishes of Trinidad and Tobago. Marine Fishery Analysis Unit, Fisheries Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, Trinidad and Tobago. Fisheries Information Series 8, 151 p.
• Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii, Editors (1983). Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.

More Info

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• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 7, 2006.
• FishBase
• FishBase 2006.
• Froese, R., and D. Pauly. FishBase 2004. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 05, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 5 providers.
• Iwamoto, Tomio (from FishBase).
• MBLWHOI Library: Universal Biological Index and Organizer. uBio.org accessed July 18, 2008.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 05, 2008:

• FishBase: FishBase DiGIR Provider - Philippine Server
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: Ifremer BIOCEAN database (Deep Sea Benthic Fauna)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: MAR-ECO
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity - Fish Collection (AfrOBIS)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology - DgoMB: Fish
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle: Ichtyologie
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: MCZ Fish Collection
• Senckenberg: Collection Pisces

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3863001
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-31211
• Fishbase Species ID: 5045
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 66163
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 165357
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 104360

Footnotes

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