Author: Walbaum, 1792
Microstomus kitt Walbaum, 1792
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Microstomus kitt (Walbaum, 1792) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 85-97; anal finrays 69-76; eyed side marbled with thick skin and partly embedded cycloid scales; lateral line scales 110-125. Colour: brownish or greyish, often spotted, marbled or blotched with paler and darker marks; usually some dark spots on median fins. Size: to about 45 cm, seldom more than 20-30 cm.
Habitat: most often on stony bottoms at 20-200 m. Food: a variety of small invertebrates, but polychaetes seem to dominate. Reproduction: spawns between April and September. Commercial importance: an important food fish.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic, from the Bay of Biscay to the White Sea and off Iceland.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ehrenbaum, 1905: 166-171, fig. 70| Norman, 1934: 357 (references).
Otoliths (sagitta). Chaine, 1936, pl. IX | Bauzá-Rullán, 1959: 109, pl. VII (fig. 1-13) | Schmidt, 1968: 63.