Author: Barnard, 1923
Alepocephalus australis Barnard, 1923
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Alepocephalus australis Barnard, 1923 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fairly elongate and compressed, its greatest depth above pectoral fins. Head large. greater than body depth: eye moderate, equal. to snout (juveniles) or a little less (adults), its hind margin just befort midpoint of head; tip of upper jaw reaching to front margin of eye or to eye centre; gillrakers 6-9 + 1 + 13-18 = 20-27. Dorsal finrays 16-19, pectoral finrays 9-13, pelvic finrays 7-8, anal finrays 17-19, its origin about opposite dorsal fin origin. Colour: purplish-brown. Size: to at least 42 cm.
Habitat: engybenthic at about 1,000-2,600 m. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: isolated records off Morocco and south-western Ireland Elsewhere, possibly widely distributed from Gulf of Guinea to South Africa and in western Atlantic at about 39° to 10° N.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths ( sagitta). No data.