Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; brackish; reef-associated; depth range ? - 200 m (Ref. 9710). Tropical; 48°N - 29°S, 98°W - 14°E
Eastern Atlantic: Cape Blanc and Cape Verde to Angola. Western Atlantic: Bermuda, Georges Bank, and southern Canada to Brazil (Ref. 7251). Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Central and South American coasts Ref. (26938).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 200 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26938); common length : 120 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5217); max. published weight: 279.01 g (Ref. 118626)
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 14 - 16; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 14 - 16; Vertebrae: 87. Color in life brownish above, lighter below, with a series of pale blue spots from head to dorsal fin on midline of back, row of blue spots lateral to the mid-dorsal row and two lateral rows of blue spots on snout. First four vertebrae fused (Ref. 9826). Middle caudal rays extended as a long filament; no scales or fin spines. No barbel at tip of lower jaw (Ref. 26938)
A solitary species (Ref. 26340) occurs over grass flats and reefs, and on hard and rocky bottoms (Ref. 5377). Feeds on fishes, small crustaceans (Ref. 6557) or invertebrates.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Fritzsche, R.A., 1990. Fistulariidae. p. 654-655. 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. 6557)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 14.6 - 27.5, mean 23.8 °C (based on 398 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.6250 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00065 (0.00033 - 0.00128), b=3.02 (2.84 - 3.20), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.7 ±0.4 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref.
125649): High vulnerability (57 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 30 [15, 56] mg/100g; Iron = 0.698 [0.386, 1.265] mg/100g; Protein = 18.7 [17.5, 20.0] %; Omega3 = 0.103 [0.050, 0.216] g/100g; Selenium = 109 [53, 237] μg/100g; VitaminA = 17.2 [5.0, 56.8] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.87 [0.57, 1.33] mg/100g (wet weight);
