Genus Cetonurus

Cetonurus Gunther, 1887

Diagnosis: body robust, but tapering very rapidly behind anus; head large, broad and deep, expanded and soft, with crest and sensory canals well developed. Snout high and broad, 33-41% head length; mouth small, subterminal, low on head, with small pointed teeth in bands on both jaws; gill openings not reaching forward beyond vertical from hind border of eye; branchiostegal rays 7; chin barbel very short. First dorsal fin with 9-12 finrays, the second (spinous) finray serrated, second dorsal fin a short distance behind first, long and low; pectoral fin with 16-19 finrays; pelvic fin insertion in front of pectoral fin base, with 8-10 finrays. Scales relatively small, with slender spinules; a series of enlarged and more heavily armed scales along base of second dorsal fin. Light organ a short blackish area just before a naked area around the anus, produced anteriorly into a white or light-coloured triangle. Colour: body brown to dark brown, gular and branchiostegal membranes even darker; mouth, gill cavity and body cavity blackish. Size: to at least 45 cm TL.

Habitat: benthopelagic at 960-4,261 m, probably mostly at 1,000-2,000 m in Atlantic. Food: small fishes and planktonic crustaceans. Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: the Azores, Madeira and off Morocco northward to Bay of Biscay. Elsewhere, southward to the Canaries and Senegal, also western Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean), Indonesia and Japan.

Species 2; in Clofnam area 1.

Recent revision: Marshall (1973—western North Atlantic).

Species of this genus in the program:
Cetonurus globiceps

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