Author: Delaroche, 1800
Gnathophis mystax Delaroche, 1800
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Gnathophis mystax (Delaroche, 1809) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: snake-like body, scaleless, cylindrical in anterior half, more or less compressed behind anus, the latter slightly before midpoint of body. Eye large, inter-orbital space narrow. Anterior nostril opening in a flexible tube at snout near to premaxillary teeth; posterior nostril a horizontal slit with a slightly crenulate edge, opening before and near eye. Mouth moderately large, rictus slightly before level of middle of eye; snout somewhat prominent; labial flange narrow on upper lip, broader on lower lip. In both jaws and vomer, conical teeth more or less sharp, in bands (4-6 rows); premaxillary teeth conical, elongate and sharp, ventrally visible when mouth is closed. Gill openings crescentiform, their upper edge opposite midpoint of pectoral fin base. Dorsal and anal fins well developed, their finrays segmented; dorsal fin origin at level of middle of pectoral fins. Lateral line: 30-33 preanal pores; 5-6 prepectoral; 3 supra-temporal pores; 3 pores on post-orbital branch of infra-orbital canal. Vertebrae: total 130-141; abdominal 43-47. Colour: brownish, darker dorsally, lighter ventrally; posterior part of dorsal and anal fins edged with black; caudal fin almost entirely black. Size: to 60 cm.
Habitat: benthic on the shelf and on upper slope, on muddy bottoms at 80-800 m. Food: benthic invertebrates and perhaps small fishes. Reproduction: spawning in warm season- (Augustctober in Mediterranean), eggs 2.5-3.0 mm in diameter, leptocephali with a long larval life (12 months in tropical Atlantic).
Distribution: eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Kaup, 1856b: 148-150, pl. 17 (fig. 10-12), pl. 18 (fig. 13) (Leptocephalus bibroni, L. gegenbauri non Kölliker, L. köllikeri, L. stenops pro parte, L. yarrelli) | Kaup, 1860c: 270, pl. 3 (fig. B) (L. haeckeli) | Günther, 1870, 8: 141, 143 | Facciolà, 1882b: 185, fig.3 (L. kaupii); 1883a: 3-10, pl.4 (fig.3-11) (L. sicanus, L. peloritanus, L. prestandreae, L. maurolici, L. borelli, L. gutturosus, L. tenuirostris, L. zancleus); 1883b: 147 | Bellotti, 1883: 171-172 | Raffaele, 1888: 69 | Grassi and Calandruccio, 1892: 378-379 | Jordan and Davis, 1892: 665 | Facciolà, 1893a: 99, 123, 125; 1893b: 194, 224-226, 254-256, 287-288, 309-311; 1893c: 26, 32, 57-58; 1894a: 125; 1894b: 133, 135; 1895a: 43-44, 47; 1895b: 218 | Cunningham, 1895a: 280 | Grassi and Calandruccio, 1895: 5 | Grassi, 1896: 371 | Strömman, 1896: 46, 8-9, 11 | Grassi, 1897a: 261 | Facciolà, 1897a: 117; 1897b: 122 | Cunningham, 1897: 467 | Chevrel, 1898: 247-248 | Facciolà, 1901a: 45, pl. 6 (fig. 2-5), pl. 7 (fig. 8, 12-13); 1901b: 252-253, 261 | Eigenmann, 1902a: 39 | Facciolà, 1903: 185-186, 188, 195 | Sanzo, 1905: 313 | Schmidt, 1906a: 149 | Mazzarelli, 1909: 183 | Lo Bianco, 1909: 710 | Schmidt, 1911b: 377, fig. 2; 1912b: 320, pl. 4; 1912d: 39, pl. 3 (fig. 3-4); 1912f: 411 | Lea, 1913: 18, fig. 12-15, pl. 3 (fig. 1-2) | Grassi, 1913: 44-45, 47-48, 59, 198, pl. 1, pl. 12 (fig. 37) | Schmidt, 1913: 4, fig. 2 | Roule, 1914a: 4 | Pietschmann, 1914: 455 | Grassi, 1915: 695 | Schmidt, 1916: 15 | Roule, 1919: 102, pl. 7 (fig. 44b) | Bartels, 1922: 322 | Roule, 1923: fig. 150 | Bertin, 1926: 331, tab. 5-6 | Fish, 1927: 307 | Ancona, 1928a: 517; 1930: pl. 135 (fig. 2); 1931: 106-108, fig. 72-76 | Borodin, 1931: 60 | Ford, 1931: 996 | Roule, 1932: 272, pl. 3 | Sparck, 1932: 902 | Bertin, 1935b: 104; 1935d: 180; 1936b: 2-5, fig. 1-3 | Fowler, 1936: fig. 126 | Albuquerque, 1954-1956: 414, fig. 200 | Castle, 1969: 21, 34, 40-41, 43, 46, 50, 53, 55, 57 | Blache, 1977: 136 (leptocephali).
Otoliths (sagitta). Chaine, 1938: 247 | Bauzá-Rullán, 1957: 37.