| Family: |
Macrouridae (Grenadiers or rattails) |
| Max. size: |
34 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
bathydemersal; marine; depth range 366 - 1620 m, non-migratory |
| Distribution: |
Eastern Central Atlantic: Western Sahara south to Angola. |
| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 2-2; Dorsal soft rays (total): 140-141. Head large; eyes also large; snout short, narrow, bluntly acute, with a small bifid scute at its tip. Head completely scaled except for underside of snout. Body tapering to a point posteriorly from behind the origin of the first dorsal fin base. Pyloric caeca 20. Spinules on scales broad, shield-shaped. Overall color is brownish to swarthy; trunk bluish to violet; fins blackish; mouth and gill cavities gray to blackish. |
| Biology: |
Specimens from northwestern Africa feed primarily on faunal organisms, especially polychaetes (90% of contents) and a variety of small crustaceans. Smaller individuals (30-40 mm head length) feed mostly on epibenthic organisms, especially the copepod Aetidopsis carinata (Ref. 6219). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 11 July 2012 Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
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