Author: Cocco, 1829
Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1829
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body oblong, fusiform. Lower jaw slightly projecting before the upper; tips of jaws without cartilaginous processes. Fang-like teeth indistinct; vomer toothed. No free spines before anal fin. 2 detached dorsal and anal finlets. D XIII-XV + 17-19 + 2; A I + 11-17 + 2; P 15; V I + 5. Small cycloid scales interspersed with rows of roughened spiny tubercles. Scaly keel on belly between pelvic fins and anus. Lateral line single, often obscure. Colour: dark purplish-brown. Size: to 200 cm SL, but reported up to 300 cm from Pacific Ocean, usually 100-150 cm.
Habitat: oceanic, benthopelagic on continental slope and underwater rises at about 100 to 700 m. Usually swims solitary or in pairs near bottom (underwater observations); may ascend to midwater. Food: fishes, cephalopods, crustaceans. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean south of Bay of Biscay; common near Madeira and the Canaries, stragglers as far north as western Irish slope. Elsewhere, worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.