Author: Goode and Bean, 1886
Bathypterois grallator Goode and Bean, 1886
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Bathypterois grallator (Goode and Bean, 1886) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 12-13; anal finrays 12-13; pelvic finrays 8; outermost ray thickened and greatly elongated (104-144% SL), second ray thin and applied to outer ray; pectoral finrays 7-10 visible externally, uppermost rays not greatly elongated; lowermost caudal ray elongated to a similar degree (97-134% SL) as outer pelvic rays. Adipose fin absent. Subcaudal notch absent. Lateral line scales 58-60. Underside of lower jaw scaled anteriorly. Colour: head and body black; scale pockets outlined in white; dorsal fin unpigmented. Size: commonly exceeding 20 cm, often exceeding 30 cm.
Habitat: benthic from 900 to 3,500 m, but commonest on continental rise between 1,500 and 2,300 m. Behaviour: solitary. Perches on substrate with aid of specialized finrays (tripod), faces into current. Food: nektonic copepods and other small planktonic crustaceans. Reproduction: synchronously hermaphroditic (Mead, Bertelsen and Cohen, 1964). The post-larval stage has been described (Sulak, 1977b).
Distribution: probably circumglobal at tropical and temperate latitudes. Known from Mediterranean based on submersible photographs.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.