Author: (Valenciennes, 1838)
Nezunuia sclerorhynchus (Valenciennes, 1838)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Nezumia sclerorhynchus (Valenciennes, 1838) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: head length about 15% of body length, upper head profile not rising steeply. Snout blunt and high, tip rough, underside naked, sub-orbital ridge with scute-like scales extending back under eye; mouth inferior, small, upper jaw one-quarter to one-third head length; moderate chin barbel, up to about half eye diameter; gillrakers 9-11 (usually 10). First dorsal fin with 11-12 finrays (rarely 10); second dorsal fin beginning behind anal fin origin, the finrays very short; pectoral fin with 17-21 finrays; pelvic fin with 9 finrays (rarely 7, 8 or 10), outer finray prolonged. Scales with large slender spinules in converging rows, the middle row sometimes more prominent in nape scales and forming a ridge. Pyloric caeca 14-32 (usually 20-32), long and simple. Colour: clear violet, more blue on chest; mouth and outer margin of gill cavity blackish. Size: to at least 30 cm TL.
Habitat: benthopelagic at 500-3,200 m. Food: about two-thirds pelagic animals (mainly copepods, mysids and shrimps) and about one-third benthic animals (mainly polychaete worms and amphipods). Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: the Azores, Madeira and off Morocco, also Mediterranean. Elsewhere, southward to Gulf of Guinea and in western North Atlantic (north of Straits of Florida).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Sanzo (1933)?
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.