Ruvettus pretiosus, Oilfish : fisheries, gamefish

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Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833

Oilfish
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Ruvettus pretiosus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Ruvettus pretiosus (Oilfish)
Ruvettus pretiosus
Female Picture by Cambraia Duarte, P.M.N. (c)ImagDOP

US America (contiguous states) territory information

Common names: Castor oil fish, Oilfish, Plain-tail
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Also Ref. 276.
National Checklist:
Territory Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Rouvet, Escolar clavo, Night barracuda, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Scombriformes (Mackerels) > Gempylidae (Snake mackerels)

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

Marine; benthopelagic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 100 - 975 m (Ref. 9302), usually 200 - 400 m (Ref. 6181). Subtropical; 55°N - 43°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 6181)

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

Circumtropical and Circumtemperate

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 300 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5951); common length : 150 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181); max. published weight: 63.5 kg (Ref. 4699)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 13 - 15; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15 - 18; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 15 - 18; Vertebrae: 32. Skin very rough, scales interspersed with spinous bony tubercles. Mid-ventral (abdominal) keel on the ventral contour. Body is uniformly brown to dark brown, tips of the pectoral and pelvic fins black, margins of the second dorsal and anal fins white in young specimens.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Usually over the continental shelf, sometimes in oceanic waters down to 800 m (Ref. 9302). Usually solitary or in pairs near the bottom (Ref. 6181). Migrates far offshore (Ref. 26139). Pelagic (Ref. 5951). Feeds on fish, crustaceans and squid (Ref. 6181). The peculiar wooden 'palu' or Ruvettus hook is used to catch this species in south central Pacific (Ref. 6181). The flesh is very oily, with purgative properties, if eaten much (Ref. 6181). Marketed fresh and as fish cakes in Japan (Ref. 9302); also processed into fishmeal (Ref. 5217). Maximum length reported to reach up to 2 m only (Heemstra, pers. comm. 03/03).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Parin, Nikolay V. | Collaborators

Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p. (Ref. 6181)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 22 August 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Poisonous to eat (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
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Length-weight rel.
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 8.6 - 19, mean 12.9 °C (based on 603 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00339 (0.00188 - 0.00609), b=3.11 (2.95 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.2   ±0.57 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming tm>4).
Prior r = 0.28, 95% CL = 0.19 - 0.42, Based on 1 data-limited stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (90 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 17.3 [7.8, 32.2] mg/100g; Iron = 0.573 [0.271, 1.108] mg/100g; Protein = 17.7 [15.5, 19.7] %; Omega3 = 0.202 [0.110, 0.353] g/100g; Selenium = 81.8 [36.6, 171.9] μg/100g; VitaminA = 10.3 [3.2, 36.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.411 [0.288, 0.611] mg/100g (wet weight);