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Desmodema polystictum  (Ogilby, 1898)

Polka-dot ribbonfish
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2100
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Desmodema polystictum   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Desmodema polystictum (Polka-dot ribbonfish)
Desmodema polystictum
Picture by Khan, M.M.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Lampriformes (Velifers, tube-eyes and ribbonfishes) > Trachipteridae (Ribbonfishes)
Etymology: Desmodema: Greek, desmos = band, chain + Greek, demos = fat, grease, cow fat (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 0 - 500 m (Ref. 58302).   Deep-water, preferred ?; 42°N - 52°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Pacific: Japan, Taiwan (Ref. 5193), Philippines, Australia, New Zealand (Ref. 5755). Eastern Atlantic: 16°11'N (ISH unpublished) to Namibia (Ref. 4506) and South Africa (one specimen washed ashore at Xora River and 1 found in the tide pool at Simonstown, False Bay). Western Atlantic: Florida, USA and Cuba (Ref. 7251). Northern Indian Ocean: 2 records from Pakistan and India (Ref. 93850; Ref. 93851). Probably circumtropical.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 110 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9137); common length : 100.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 47377)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 120-128. Specimens less than 10 cm are silvery in color with many dark spots (Ref. 2713).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Epi- (Ref. 58302) and mesopelagic species (Ref. 4506). Feeds upon various organisms like small fish, squids, octopus, and crustaceans (Ref. 4525).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Heemstra, P.C. and S.X. Kannemeyer, 1986. Trachipteridae. p. 399-402. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 2713)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.7510   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm Total Length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.2   ±0.51 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming tmax>10).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (57 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.