Author: (Cocco, 1838)
Hygophum benoiti (Cocco, 1838)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Hygophum benoiti (Cocco, 1838) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 13-14; anal finrays 20 (19-21); pectoral finrays 14 (13-15). Gillrakers 4 (5) + 1 + 13 (12-14, rarely 11 or 15), total 18 (17-19, rarely 16 or 20). AO 6 (5-7) + 6 (5-7), total 12 (11-13). Males with single black-rimmed supra-caudal gland; females with 3 (2) infracaudal glands. Size: to 55 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Mediterranean: day at 100-1,000 m (maximum abundance at 700-1,000 m); night at 12-400 m and at 700-1,000 m (maximum abundance below 700 m). Canaries: day at 700-925 m. Bermuda: day at 500-1,050 m (maximum abundance at 500-850 m); night at 20-1,000 m (maximum abundance in upper 50 m) (JanuaryFebruary) and at 650-700 m (June and August-September). Juveniles non-migratory or migratory (Mediterranean). Food: no data. Reproduction: caudal glands develop in males at 17-20 mm and in females at 24-25 mm; sexually mature from about 40 to 50 mm. Spawning peak in spring-summer, with east-to-west progression (Mediterranean) or in March (Bermuda).
Distribution: endemic Mediterranean and Atlantic: north temperate pattern (temperate-subtropical subpattern), between 48° and 30° N and in the Mauritanian upwelling region from 20° to 16° N (eastern sector); and between 28° and 43° N (western sector). Distribution may be related to the oceanographic boundaries of the North Atlantic gyral system.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Tåning, 1918: 45-51, fig. 15-16 | Sanzo, 1918: 23-25 | Roule and Angel, 1930: 47-48 | Tåning, 1932: pl. 119 (fig. 2) | Tortonese, 1956: 934-937, pl. 51 (fig. 9).
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 12, 26, fig. 61.