Teleostei (teleosts) >
Beloniformes (Needle fishes) >
Belonidae (Needlefishes)
Etymology: Platybelone: Greek, platys = flat + Greek, belone = needle; any fish with sharp pointed snout; also Pierre Belon, 1517-64, French zoologist born in Le Mans. Professor at the College de France, author of " La nature et diversité des poissons", 1551 (Ref. 45335).
Issue
Considered mostly as a subspecies in the literature. Therefore the upraise at species rank here is considered as a provisionally accepted name, until more works are conducted on P. argalus susbepcies to fix their status.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; pelagic-neritic; depth range 0 - ? m. Tropical
Eastern Atlantic: restricted to Annobon, Fernando Poo and São Tomé in equatorial Gulf of Guinea.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 23.0 cm OT male/unsexed; (Ref. 5757); common length : 80.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2683)
Maximum length refers to body length. Inhabits surface waters (Ref. 2683). Circumglobal in tropical seas and divisible into five subspecies (Ref 90102).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Collette, B.B. and N.V. Parin, 1990. Belonidae. p. 592-597. 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. (Ref. 5757)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = No PD50 data [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00126 (0.00057 - 0.00279), b=3.11 (2.93 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.2 ±0.7 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate vulnerability (37 of 100).
