Author: Bean, 1925
Scopelosaurus smithii Bean, 1925
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Scopelosaurus smithii Bean, 1925 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate, slender, its depth 7-8% SL; head rather larg posterior infra-orbital bones narrow, 1.4-1.7% SL, with a prominer anterior crest bordering eye and a posterior expanded, lobed lamell~ lower jaw with an anterior unpaired primary pore followed by two pail of such pores in anterior half, secondary pores numerous. Teeth smal premaxillae uniserial in young, in narrow band in adults, dentary in tw bands, on vomer and palatine in two or three groups. Gillrakers rather long, lath-like, 1 + 1 + 12-16. Dorsal fin origin at about midpoint of body, with 10-12 finrays; a short adipose dorsal fin present; anal fin with 17-19 finrays; pectoral fin long, with 11-14 (15) finrays; pelvic distinctl in front of dorsal, with 9 finrays; caudal fin forked. Scales cycloid, deciduous; lateral line 54-57. Vertebrae 53-56. Pyloric caeca 12-16. Colour: juveniles up to at least 67 mm SL have bright silvery scales with bluish iridescences, which may be present in fresh, undamaged adults, but scal easily shed. Size: to 222 mm SL.
Habitat: nerito-oceanic; meso- to benthopelagic at about 200-600 (adults), meso- to epipelagic at 50-200 m (young). Food: probably chiely zooplankton. Extensive migrations by juveniles and adults, probably for feeding in the subtropical belts. Reproduction: spawning occurs in tropic waters, in the Atlantic chiefly (if not exclusively) in the western part.
Distribution: only off Madeira. Elsewhere, Atlantic ocean, from abo 34° N to 20° S, with some larval drift in the western North Atlantic to about 40° N; Indian and Pacific Oceans between 20° N and 30° S.
Eggs, etc. Bertelsen, Krefft and Marshall, 1976: 47-48, fig. 29 (larval development).
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 16, 27, fig. 98-99.