Author: (Corbin, 1950)
Hyperoplus immaculatlus (Corbin, 1950)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Hyperoplus immaculatus (Corbin, 1950) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: vomerine teeth appearing as two, almost separate, low cusps. Dorsal rays 59-62; anal rays 31-34; pectoral fins 35- 40% of head length and extended beyond the level of first dorsal finray. Vertebrae 70-74. Colour: back dark grey/brown; no dark spot on either side of snout; tip of lower jaw distinctly dark. Size: to 35 cm SL.
Habitat: inshore and offshore, although only juveniles appear to occur close inshore. Commonly associated with Ammodytes species, but probably less gregarious. Food: initially zooplankton, but for lengths greater than 10-15 cm small fish, such as clupeids and ammodytids dominate the diet. Reproduction: winter spawner, planktonic stages present January-April (North Sea).
Distribution: eastern North Atlantic, all coasts of the British Isles, North Sea, and English Channel to northern Biscay.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Corbin and Vati, 1949: 299, pl. 11 (fig. 2) | Macer, 1967:5, fig.3a-d.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.
Note. This is the most local, least studied and most recently recognized sand-eel species.