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Teleostei (teleosts) > Beloniformes (Needle fishes) > Hemiramphidae (Halfbeaks)
Etymology: Hemiramphus: Greek, hemi = half + Greek, rhamphos = bill, peak (Ref. 45335).
More on authors: Gilbert & Starks.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - ? m. Subtropical

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Eastern Pacific: southern California, USA to Panama, including the Galapagos Islands; rare in northern Baja California, Mexico. Range extends to Ecuador (Ref. 36576).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 48.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2850); common length : 35.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9306); max. published weight: 223.25 g (Ref. 124487)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12 - 15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 11 - 13; Vertebrae: 54 - 58. Body elongate; lower jaw very prolonged; upper jaw short, triangular, and without scales; lower branch of first gill arch with 26 to 32 gill rakers; fins lacking spines; pectoral fins long; caudal fin deeply forked, the lower lobe longer than the upper; anal fin with 10 to 13 rays; back dark blue; flanks and belly silvery white; edge of lower jaw red; upper lobe of caudal fin violet blue, its tip red (Ref. 55763). Branchiostegal rays: 13-15 (Ref. 36576).

An oceanic species which occurs near surface. Adults form very big schools (Ref. 9306). Feed on small fishes and planktonic organisms (Ref. 9306). Oviparous, with planktonic larvae (Ref. 36576). Eggs are attached to floating objects via filaments (Ref. 36576). Found in markets of Panama (Ref. 9306).

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

Oviparous (Ref. 36576).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Collette, Bruce B. | Collaborators

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983. A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p. (Ref. 2850)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 21 May 2007

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; bait: occasionally

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 15.2 - 26.4, mean 19.7 °C (based on 68 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5005 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00398 (0.00219 - 0.00722), b=2.97 (2.81 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.0 ±0.65 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Medium.

Hemiramphus saltator Gilbert & Starks, 1904