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Teleostei (teleosts) > Ovalentaria/misc (Various families in series Ovalentaria) > Opistognathidae (Jawfishes)
Etymology: Opistognathus: Greek, opisthe = behind + Greek, gnathos = jaw (Ref. 45335); to the very elongate upper jaw of the type species of the genus, Opistognathus nigromarginatus (Ref. 128653); nigromarginatus: Name from Latin 'nigro' or black and 'marginatus' meaning enclosed with a border; refers to the conspicuous inner maxillary stripe of this species..
More on author: Rüppell.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 2 - 17 m (Ref. 90102). Tropical; 30°N - 12°S, 35°E - 100°E (Ref. 121151)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and eastern Africa to the South China Sea.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 18.6 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5468)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 14-15; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 14 - 15. This species is distinguished by the following characters: elongate supramaxilla and posterior end of maxilla produced as a thin flexible lamina, in adults it usually extends almost to or beyond rear margin of opercle; dorsal fin with an ocellated spot between third or fourth and eighth spines; inner lining of upper jaw and adjacent membranes with a single conspicuous black stripe that touches ventral margin of maxilla for most of its length; D Xl,14 or 15 (exceptionally 15); body with about 68-95 oblique scale rows; total gill rakers 36-45, usually 39-45 (Ref. 81517).

Inhabits burrows in shallow coastal waters. Also found in sand/rubble bottoms in 2-17 m (Ref 90102).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Smith-Vaniz, W.F., 1986. Opisthognathidae. p. 726-727. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 5468)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 19 July 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 25.3 - 29.2, mean 28.5 °C (based on 2714 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.6 ±0.6 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

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Opistognathus nigromarginatus Rüppell, 1830