Author: Facciolà, 1887
Dysomma brevirostre Facciolà, 1887
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Dysomma brevirostre (Facciolà, 1887) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body very elongate, slender, compressed; anus far anterior. Snout tip and chin bulbous, ornamented with conspicuous papillae and ridges. Nostrils broad-based; anterior tubular, close to tip of snout, posterior in front of lower margin of eye, with a fleshy rim. Gape moderate. A transversaly oriented pair of teeth on premaxillary- ethmoid area, followed by a single row of 4 or 5 larger teeth, each set in individual pads of tissue on the vomer; lower jaw with 3 large teeth, widely spaced, followed by a uniserial row of tiny, close-set teeth; maxillary teeth reduced, acute and minute, uniserial. Gill openings small, parallel, close together on underside of head. Dorsal and anal fins confluent with caudal fin; dorsal fin origin slightly behind level of gill openings; pectoral fins absent. Lateral line present only on head and anterior part of trunk, with 8-10 pores, of which 4 or 5 before gill openings. Vertebrae: total 190-205, abdominal 67. Colour: back-brown, flanks and head darker; small dark patches all over body. Size: to 26.5 cm.
Habitat: benthopelagic, on upper continental slope between 350 and 650 m, probably deeper. Food: no data. Reproduction: very few data; leptocephali known.
Distribution: western Mediterranean (Ligurian Sea, Messina), also eastern Atlantic (Madeira and south to Gulf of Guinea and beyond). Elsewhere, western Atlantic (Florida) and Hawaii.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Grassi, 1912: 18; 1913: 170, pl. 10 (fig. 1-17) | Schmidt 1913: 12, pl. 1 (fig. 8) (Leptocephalus telescopicus) | Grassi, 1917: 25, pl. 1 (fig. 1012) | Ancona, 1931d: 123, fig. 102-103 | Castle, 1969: 24, 55.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.