Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) >
Osmeriformes (Smelts) >
Bathylagidae (Deep-sea smelts)
Etymology: Bathylagichthys: Greek, bathys = deep + Greek, lagos = hare + Greek, ichthys = fish (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Ecology
Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 25 - 1000 m (Ref. 33679). Deep-water, preferred ?; 32°N - 48°S
Eastern Atlantic: Spain to Western Sahara. Western Atlantic: Bermuda. Northwest Atlantic: Canada (Ref. 5951). Southwest Pacific: New Zealand (Ref. 5755).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 16.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4459)
Dorsal
soft rays
(total): 13-14;
Anal
soft rays: 11 - 12;
Vertebrae: 44. Pale, straw-colored ground color. Opercle and snout dusky. Dark pigment distributed on margins of scale pockets (Ref. 37473). Slender body, smoothly narrowed toward the end of caudal peduncle. Maximum depth at the level of the pectoral fin base for 39-69 mm specimens and immediately before the dorsal fin origin for larger ones. Pectoral fins short, not reaching origin of dorsal fin. Operculum without radial grooves. No gill rakers at the inner surface of epibranchial of first gill arch. Swim bladder absent (Ref. 33679).
Usually caught in small aggregations, at 600-900 m in the daytime and 25-500 m at night (Ref. 6345). Feeds on plankton (Ref. 6345).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Cohen, D.M., 1990. Bathylagidae. p. 239-240. 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. 1. (Ref. 4459)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
More information
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources