Author: Lowe, 1843
Cubiceps gracilis Lowe, 1843
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Cubiceps gracilis (Lowe, 1843) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: an oval patch of knob-like teeth on tongue. D IX-Xl + 22-24; A II-III + 20-23; P 20-24; pectoral fin long and wing-like, its base inclined at an angle of about 45°; origin of pelvic fins behind pectoral fin base. Scales on head extending forward almost to nostrils. Vertebrae 33-34. Colour: brown or blackish. Size: to 80 cm SL, but such large specimens very rare.
Habitat: oceanic, epi- or mesopelagic. Behaviour: young sometimes associate in numbers with medusae, but are also found epipelagic in the plankton; adults generally occur singly. Reproduction: mature at 20 cm, but growth continues indeterminately; young abundant near the Azores.
Distribution: eastern North Atlantic and western Mediterranean; not uncommon off the Azores and Madeira.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lütken, 1880b: pl. 5 (fig. 2) | Sparta, 1946: 17-21, 5 fig.
Otoliths (sagitta). Sanz Echeverría, 1949: 153, pl. 6 (fig. 11-14).