Author: (Bloch, 1792)
Aulopus filamentosus Bloch, 1792
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Aulopus filamentosus (Bloch, 1792) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body a little compressed, head large and robust. Eyes large, elliptical, a little less than snout length; upper jaw reaching to or beyond eye centre, expanded posteriorly; jaw teeth simple, short and depressible (except outer row), as also within mouth. Pseudobranch well developed. Dorsal fin high, with 16 finrays, its base shorter than distance between dorsal and caudal fins; pectoral fin with 12-13 finrays; pelvic fins inserted a little before origin of dorsal fin, with 9 finrays; anal fin with 11-12 finrays. Scales ctenoid, adherent, those on gill cover largest, with 48-53 in the lateral line and 13-18 pre-dorsal; small axillary scales present at bases of pectoral and pelvic fins. Colour: brownish-green with darker markings on flanks. Size: to 44 cm.
Habitat: demersal on continental shelf and upper slope, to about 1,000 m but mostly shallower. Food: no data. Reproduction: anterior dorsal finrays elongated in mature males; spawning apparently prolonged over several months; ovarian eggs about 1.4 mm diameter, with numerous oil globules at maturity (Sanzo, 1938); larvae and post- larvae described and figured by Sanzo (1915, 1938), Taning (1918) and Tortonese (1956); young stages pelagic.
Distribution: Madeira, coasts of Morocco and throughout Mediterranean (but not Adriatic or Black Sea). Elsewhere, south to the Canaries and northern border of Mauritania. Reported very abundant along northwestern coast of Africa and off Madeira and the Canaries.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Tåning, 1918, fig. 2 | Tortonese, 1956d: 894, fig. 788, pl. LI (fig. 3).
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1926b: 467, pl. 20 (fig. 7).