Author: Cuvier, 1829
Gempylus serpens Cuvier, 1829
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Gempylus serpens Cuvier, 1829 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate, its depth 15-19 times in SL. Lower jaw projecting beyond the upper; tips of jaw with cartilaginous processes. 3 fixed and 0-3 movable fang-like teeth in upper jaw anteriorly, no fanglike teeth in lower jaw; no teeth on vomer. 2 small free spines before anal fin. 5-7 detached dorsal and anal finlets. D XXIX-XXXII + I-II + 10-12 + 5-7; A II + I + 10-12 + 5-7; P 13-15; V I + 3-4. Scales absent except on caudal fin base. Lateral line double, the upper running along dorsal edge of body to below origin of second dorsal fin, the lower mediolateral. Colour: dark brown, belly silvery. Size: to 100 cm SL.
Habitat: oceanic, epimesopelagic down to 200 m and more. Adults migrating to surface for feeding at night (nyctoepipelagic); solitary. Food: squids, fishes (myctophids, exocoetids, sauries), crustaceans. Reproduction: throughout the year in tropics, seasonal outside; fecundity about 1 million eggs.
Distribution: known from off the Azores. Elsewhere, worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Voss, 1954b: 144-151, fig. IC, 13-15 | Parin, 1967: 990-1000, fig. 1-2.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.