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Teleostei (teleosts) > Beryciformes (Sawbellies) > Melamphaidae (Bigscale fishes or ridgeheads)
Etymology: Melamphaes: Greek, melan, -anos = black + Greek, amphi = both side (Ref. 45335).

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

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 150 - 350 m (Ref. 51657). Deep-water; 11°N - 4°S (Ref. 87970)

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

Eastern Atlantic: tropical, mostly equatorial.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 11.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 87970)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 3; Dorsal soft rays (total): 14 - 15; Anal spines: 1; Anal soft rays: 8; Vertebrae: 27. The species is characterized by the following: gill rakers of first gill arch 21; vertebrae 27 (11 abdominal vertebrae); haemal arch of the first caudal vertebra without spur; D III,14-15; P 15; soft rays in ventral fin 7; ventral fin starts after the vertical line of the posterior margin of the pectoral fin basement; anal fin starts under the vertical line of the 3-4 ray of the dorsal fin (posterior end); operculum with 4 scales (Ref. 87970).

Adults found at depths of 15 - 300 meters (Ref. 51657). Specimens captured by bottom trawling at 1550 m depth; reported night catches of juveniles at 150-300 m depth and more (Ref. 87970).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Kotlyar, A.N., 2011. Revision of genus Melamphaes (Melamphaidae). II. Multi-raker species: M. polylepis, M. falsidicus sp. nova, M. pachystomus sp. nova, M. macrocephalus, M. leprus. J. Ichthyol. 51(8):658-661. (Ref. 87970)

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

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 15 May 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
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Ecology
Ecology

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Length-weight rel.
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Anatomy
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Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 13.3 - 14.1, mean 14 °C (based on 7 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01072 (0.00442 - 0.02595), b=3.10 (2.89 - 3.31), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.7 ±0.2 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Melamphaes leprus Ebeling, 1962