You can sponsor this page

Gempylus serpens  Cuvier, 1829

Snake mackerel
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2100
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Gempylus serpens   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Google image
Image of Gempylus serpens (Snake mackerel)
Gempylus serpens
Picture by Cambraia Duarte, P.M.N. (c)ImagDOP

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Gempylidae (Snake mackerels)
Etymology: Gempylus: Greek, gempylos = a kind of fish (Ref. 45335).   More on author: Cuvier.

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 600 m (Ref. 13628), usually 0 - 200 m (Ref. 89423).   Deep-water, preferred ?; 42°N - 40°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 6181)

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

Worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. Adults also often caught in temperate waters. Specimen caught on the Atlantic side of South Africa (33°08'S 16°47'E at 700 m) (Ref. 6193) probably strayed from the Indian Ocean.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 50 - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181); common length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 27 - 33; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10-14; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 10 - 12; Vertebrae: 48 - 55. Body is elongated and strongly compressed. The mouth is large with fang-like teeth. There are two lateral lines, both originating below the first spine of the dorsal fin. The upper lateral line follows the dorsal contour of the body to the end of the first dorsal fin base. The lower descends gradually posterior to about the tip of the pectoral fin and runs mid-laterally. Body color is uniformly dark brown; all fins dark brown with somewhat darker margins.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Strictly oceanic and usually solitary (Ref. 6181). Adults migrate to the surface at night while larvae and juveniles are found near the surface during the day (Ref. 6181). Feed on fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans (Ref. 9302). Males mature at 43 cm SL, females at 50 cm (Ref. 36731). Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Ref. 6766). Sold frozen, as sausages or fish cake (Ref. 9302). Not eaten raw, but cooked in any way, also dried (Ref. 7364).

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. 115185)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; bait: occasionally
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Allele frequencies
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.4   ±0.70 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Fec=300,000).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (61 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.