Author: (Koehler, 1896)
Trachyscorpia cristulata echinata (Koehler, 1896)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Trachyscorpia echinata (Koehler, 1896) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head large, orbit large (11-16% of SL), much wider than snout length; spination as for the genus. Small flaps poorly developed. supra-ocular tentacle slender and tiny or absent. Dorsal fin with 12 spines and 9 (rarely 8) rays; pectoral fin with 20-23 rays, its shape characteristic with the longest rays near upper part of fin and fin slightly bilobed. Scales on body ctenoid, about 60-65 vertical rows of scales; snout usually naked, inter-orbital area, cheek, maxilla, pectoral fin base and chest scaly. Vertebrae 25. Colour: dusky pigment on back and sides; spinous dorsal fin with dusky pigment between spines 5 and 11, black in males and brown in females; other fins dusky. Size: to 50 cm, usually to 30 cm.
Habitat: benthic on muddy sand bottoms between 200 and more than 2,500 m. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: from Ireland southward to Mauritania.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.
Subspecies
Trachyscorpia cristulata echinata: eastern Atlantic.
Trachyscorpia cristulata cristulata (Goode and Bean, 1896): western Atlantic; differs from the eastern Atlantic subspecies by having more pectoral finrays (21-24), a slightly bigger head and a larger orbit diameter.