Author: Strömman, 1896
Nemichthys curvirostris Strömman, 1896
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Nemichthys curvirostris (Strömman, 1896) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body extremely long, anus below pectoral fin. Anteriol nostril non-tubular in unripe specimens. Upper jaw slightly longer than lower jaw, tip of jaws pointed. Teeth relatively large, posteriorly directed. Dorsal, caudal and anal fins confluent; basal portion of dorsal finrays at midbody strong and spine-like. Post-orbital pores 5-14 (mean 6.4) arranged in a distinct row; preopercular pores 2-6 (mean 2.3). Lateral line complete; rectangle formed by lateral line pores in each segment near tip of pectoral fins longer than high. Larvae greater than 100 mm TL with 300-320 preanal myomeres. Colour: body pale with large melanophores on belly and subcutaneous, vertical, black bars between vertebrae. Size: to 50 cm (males) or 150 cm (females), usually less than 80 cm.
Habitat: oceanic, captured pelagically from surface to 2,000 m. Food: probably exclusively crustaceans. Reproduction: strong sexual dimorphism; oviparous; leptocephalus larva well known, described by Roule and Bertin (1929) as Leptocephalus 'B'.
Distribution: in the south-western part of the area. Elsewhere, between 40° N and 40° S in the Atlantic throughout the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific; a few specimens from the south-eastern Pacific.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Roule and Bertin, 1929b: 81-83, pl. I, III, IV and VIII | Castle, 1965: 139, fig. 2; 1969: 18.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1968, fig. 114.