Description: Body elongate and cylindrical. Long head with pointed snout and elongate jaws; lower jaw projecting; mouth with strong canine-like teeth. Two dorsal fins, widely separated; the first one above the pelvic fins; the second above the anal fins. Pectoral fins short; their tips not reaching pelvic fins. Caudal fin deeply forked. Body covered in small scales. Dark bluish or greenish grey above, silvery white below.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic from the Bay of Biscay to Angola, including Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands; Mediterranean and Black Sea; also from Bermuda and Brazil in the Western Atlantic. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 165 cm (total length); common length 60.0 cm (standard length); maximum published weight: 3.6 kg.
Habitat: Pelagic-neritic. Found in coastal and offshore waters.
Feeding habits: Feeds mostly on fish, less often on cephalopods and crustaceans.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.0
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Data deficient.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 1375-2127.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Fischer W., Bianchi G., Scott W.B., eds. (1981). FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic; fishing areas 34, 47 (in part). Canada Funds-in-Trust. Ottawa, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, by arrangement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4, 316 pp.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org (2014).
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
