Author: (Günther, 1878)
Nezumia aequalis (Günther, 1878)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Nezumia aequalis (Günther, 1878) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head about 15-18% of body length, upper head profile rising fairly steeply to first dorsal fin. Snout acute, sub-orbital ridge with scutelike scales extending back under eye; mouth inferior, small, upper jaw 28-36% head length; small chin barbel present; gillrakers 8-12 (usually 10-11). First dorsal fin with 11-15 finrays (usually 12-13); second dorsal fin beginning behind anal fin origin, the finrays very short; pectoral fin with 15-23 finrays (usually 19-21); pelvic fin with 8-9 finrays (usually 8 in Clofnam area). Scales with broad spinules, shield-shaped in larger fishes, narrower in smaller ones. Pyloric caeca 25-31 (usually 28-29), simple, slender. Colour: blue-violet, mouth dusky and outer margins of gill cavity black. Size: to over 27 cm TL.
Habitat: benthopelagic at 200-2,300 m. Food: benthic as well as pelagic animals; mysids, amphipods, small shrimps, also copepods, isopods, ostracods and polychaete worms. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: the Azores, Madeira, off Morocco northward to Iceland, also Mediterranean. Elsewhere, southward to Angola and in western Atlantic (Davis Strait to northern Brazil).
Note: This species shows considerable geographic variation in several meristic and morphometric characters, especially in pelvic fin length and count, pectoral fin length, eye diameter, snout length, arching of the nape and body depth. It appears to be most closely related to N. sclerorhynchus.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.