Author: Cuvier, 1832
Acanthocybium solandri (Cuvier, 1832)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Acanthocybium solandri (Cuvier, 1832) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body very elongate, fusiform and only slightly compressed laterally. Snout about as long as rest of head; posterior part of maxilla concealed under preorbital bone. Jaw teeth large, triangular, compressed and serrate. Gillrakers completely absent. 2 dorsal fins, the first with 23-27 spines; 9 dorsal and 9 anal finlets; pectoral fin short, 22-25 rays. Interpelvic process small and bifid. Median keel present between the 2 small keels on each side of caudal peduncle. No bony caudal keel on caudal peduncle vertebrae. Swimbladder well developed. Intestine straight, without folds. Liver trilobed, left and right lobes longer than middle lobe. No cutaneous artery. Vertebrae more than 60. Colour: back iridescent bluish-green, numerous dark vertical bars on sides which extend to below lateral line. Size: to 211 cm fork length, 83 kg.
Habitat: epipelagic in oceanic waters, particularly around islands. Does not form large schools but may occur in small, loose, feeding aggregations. Food: fishes such as small tunas and jacks and squids. Reproduction: spawns over an extended period of time, from May to October.
Distribution: only one old specimen known from area, from Palermo (Sicily). Could be present off the Azores and Madeira. Elsewhere, from south of the area, range extends north to Senegal, Mauritania and the Cape Verde Is. Worldwide in warm waters.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Fitch and Craig, 1964: 203, fig. 5d.