Author: Cuvier, 1829
Beryx decadactylus Cuvier, 1829
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Beryx decadactylus Cuvier, 1829 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: greatest depth of body 44-50% SL. Head about 33-37% of SL. Orbit about 42% of head length. Depth of caudal peduncle about 35% of head length. Total gillrakers 22-24. D IV + 16-19. Pyloric caeca 74-100. Colour: top of head, iris, back, all fins, and inner edges of jaws bright red. Sides and lower parts of body light rosy silvery. Size: normally 25-40 cm SL. Sometimes, but very rarely, smaller specimens appear with one of the anterior soft dorsal rays greatly prolonged.
Habitat: near bottom at 400-600 m depth. Appears on Funchal fish market together with B. splendens in quantities of about 10 to 100. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: mainly in the eastern North Atlantic as far south as the Azores and Madeira; western Mediterranean. It has also been taken in the western North Atlantic, Japan, Tasmania and Hawaii, but seems a rare species there.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Schmidt, 1968: 24, fig. 53.