Author: Lowe, 1839
Ceratoscopelus maderensis Lowe, 1839
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Ceratoscopelus maderensis (Lowe, 1839) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 14 (13-15); anal finrays 14 (13-15); pectoral finrays 13-14. Gillrakers 5 (6, rarely 4) + 1 + 13 (12-14, rarely 15), total 19 (18-21, rarely 17 or 21). AO 7 (6-8) + 6 (5-7), total 13 (12-14). Size: to 81 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Mediterranean: day at 100- 1,000 m (maximum abundance at 700-800 m); two strata at night at 12-300 m (maximum abundance at 12-150 m) and at 600-800 m (maximum abundance at 700-800 m). Canaries: day at 900-1,500 m; night at 25-200 m (maximum abundance at 50-100 m). Bermuda: day at 650-700 m; night at 51-250 m (maximum abundance at 51-100 m). Post-larvae in shallow substratum at all times, moving to deep layers prior to metamorphosis; 11-18% juveniles non-migratory (Mediterranean). Size stratification with depth at night, with juveniles nyctoepipelagic at the surface. Food: copepods and adult/larval forms of other planktonic crustaceans. Reproduction: sexually mature from about 62 mm (Atlantic specimens) or 40 mm (Mediterranean specimens). Spawning peak in spring (north of Gulf Stream) or in spring-summer, with east-to-west progression (Mediterranean).
Distribution: endemic Mediterranean and Atlantic: north temperate pattern (temperate- subtropical subpattern), between about 20° and 50° N (eastern sector) and in slope water and Gulf Stream regions from 30° to 50° N (western sector).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Sanzo, 1918: 39-40 | Tåning, 1918: 93-103, fig. 37-39 | Tortonese, 1956: 954-957, fig. 820, pl. LI (fig. 14 16).
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1926: 468, pl. XX (fig. 12) | Kotthaus, 1972a: 15, 27, fig. 92.