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Aphanopus carbo  Lowe, 1839

Black scabbardfish
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Image of Aphanopus carbo (Black scabbardfish)
Aphanopus carbo
Picture by Cambraia Duarte, P.M.N. (c)ImagDOP


Portugal country information

Common names: Black scabbard fish, Espada preta, Espada preta
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: highly commercial | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments:
National Checklist: Portugal
Country Information: httpss://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/po.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993
National Database: Portuguese Freshwater Fishes

Classification / Names

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes) > Aphanopodinae
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Main reference

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 151 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 108708); common length : 70.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3698); max. published weight: 0.00 g

Length at first maturity
Lm 111.6  range ? - 117.5 cm

Environment

Marine; bathypelagic; oceanodromous (Ref. 108735); depth range 200 - 2300 m (Ref. 108733), usually 700 - 1300 m (Ref. 108735)

Climate / Range

Deep-water, preferred 10°C (Ref. 107945); 71°N - 23°S, 82°W - 17°E (Ref. 6181)

Distribution

North Atlantic: on both sides and at underwater rises from Denmark Strait to Cape Verde.
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 34 - 41; Dorsal soft rays (total): 52-56; Anal spines: 2; Anal soft rays: 43 - 48; Vertebrae: 97 - 100. Body is extremely elongated, with body depth 10.8 to 13.4 times in SL. The snout is large with strong fang-like teeth. Pelvic fins represented by a single spine in juveniles but entirely absent in adults. Color is coppery black with iridescent tint. The inside of the mouth and gill cavities black.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Juveniles mesopelagic (Ref. 6181). Bathypelagic (Ref. 58426). Migrate to midwater at night and feed on crustaceans, cephalopods and fishes (mostly macrourids, morids and alepocephalids). Mature at 80 to 85 cm. Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Ref. 6768). Data from study reveal mature individuals undertake horizontal migration to spawning and nursery grounds located off the Madeira and Canary islands (Ref. 108708). Commercial catch up to 1000 t was caught off Madeira with a specialized commercial deep water longline (Ref. 6255). Appear as bycatch in the trawl fishery west of the British Isles, along the Middle-Atlantic Ridge and at Corner Rise. Important and fabled food fish in Madeira (Ref. 4537). Some specimens reach 145 cm (Nuno Marques, Nomad@netmadeira.com, 12/09).

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

Threat to humans

  Harmless



Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial

More information

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 | Check for other websites | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO(fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | PubMed | Scirus | Sea Around Us | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | uBio RSS | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record | Fishtrace

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)
PD50 = 0.5078 many relatives (e.g. carps) 0.5 - 2.0 few relatives (e.g. lungfishes)

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278)
4.5   ±0.77 se; Based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 69278)
Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.11-0.25, tmax=14)

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)
High vulnerability (64 of 100)
Price category (Ref. 80766)
Low