Epigonus telescopus

Author: Risso, 1810

Epigonus telescopus Risso, 1810

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Epigonus telescopus (Risso, 1810) (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: body thickset, head rather deep, snout blunt, eye large; opercular spine short, poorly ossified, below 1-8 membranous or poorly ossified spinlets. Mouth large, lower jaw equalling or slightly protruding beyond upper jaw; dentition variable with age. Gillrakers 23-26 on first arch. Dl (VII)-VIII; D2 I + 9-11 (usually 10); A II + 9; P 19-23; pelvic fins thoracic; caudal fin forked, Scales large, ctenoid, deciduous. Lateral line 45-50. Pyloric caeca 21-34. Colour: brown-violet or black, iridescent in life. Size: to 60 cm SL.

Habitat: bathybenthic on continental slope at 75-1,200 m, most abundant at 300-800 m Food: carnivorous, small fishes and planktonic invertebrates. Reproduction: dioecious; spawning in spring.

Distribution: eastern Atlantic from Iceland to the Canaries and Mediterranean. Elsewhere, eastern Atlantic along western coast of South Africa, western North Atlantic (one record off eastern coast of North America) and South Pacific (subtropical convergence region east of New Zealand).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Cavaliere, 1955: 99, fig. 1-3. (Doubtful: P. constanciae, 1956: 121, 1 pl.)
Otoliths (sagitta). Vaillant, 1888: 276 | Sanz Echeverría, 1932: 153, pl. 8 (fig. 5-8) | Chaine and Duvergier, 1935: 181, pl. 15.