Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)
Trisopterus luscus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Trisopterus luscus (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: upper jaw projecting beyond lower one. A barbel on chin nearly equal to or longer than eye diameter. First anal fin base longer than preanal distance, its origin below or behind origin of first dorsal fin. Dorsal fins in contact, anals confluent at bases. Body usually deeper than head length. First dorsal finrays 11-14, second dorsal finrays 20-24, third dorsal finrays 18-20; first anal finrays 30-34, second anal finrays 19-22. Vertebrae 47-49. Gillrakers 14-22. Colour: pale coppery with 4 or 5 broad dark vertical bars (not seen in trawled fish). Size: to 30 cm SL. rarely to 45 cm, usually 15-20 cm.
Habitat: adults offshore, at depths of 30-100 m and sometimes considerably deeper, young close to the shore, immature often in large shoals, over sandy areas. Behaviour: demersal and gregarious fish. Food: bottom crustaceans, occasionally small fish and polychaetes. Reproduction: mainly March and April, at depths of 50-70 m, mature at the end of first year.
Distribution: Skagerrak, North Sea, British Isles, southward to Morocco, western Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Schmidt, 1905: 54, fig. 13, pl. III (fig. 20-24); 1906: 9, pl. I (fig. 13-16) | Ehrenbaum, 1909: 235, fig. 87 | d'Ancona, 1933: 185, fig. 172-175.
Otoliths (sagitta). Scott, 1906: 63, pl. IIA (fig. 17-24), pl. IV (fig. 3) | Frost, 1926: 487, pl. XXII (fig. 1415) | Schmidt, 1968: 16, pl. 3 (fig. 32), p. 16.