Description: A medium-sized to large gurnard, with elongate body and large head covered with bony plates with many spines and ridges. Two separate dorsal fins. Very long and strong spine above the pectoral fins. The pectoral fins have three rays free, detached from the remaining. Breast scaleless; belly partly scaled; lateral line scales small and tubular. Red dorsally, pale ventrally; dorsal, anal and pectoral fins dusky with small blue dots.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic: British Isles and North Sea to Namibia, including Madeira and the Mediterranean, but not in the Black Sea. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 60.0 cm (TL); common length 30.0 cm (TL).
Age:
Weight length rel.: Portugal, south coast (Olim & Borges 2006): both sexes: a=0.005, b=3.17, r2=0.95 (n=40); females: a=0.016, b=2.82, r2=0.96 (n=9); males: a=0.015, b=2.82, r2=0.97 (n=14).
Portugal, south coast (Borges et al. 2003): a=0.00858, b=3.138, r2=0.90 (n=7).
Portugal, south coast (Santos et al. 2002): a=0.0217, b=2.735, r2=0.984 (n=15).
Portugal, west coast (Mendes et al. 2004): a=0.0056, b=3.123, r2=0.960 (n=42).
FishBase: Bayesian estimated length-weight: a=0.00933 (0.00743 - 0.01173), b=3.01 (2.95 - 3.07).
Depth range: FishBase: 100 - 700 m, usually 150 - 400 m.
Habitat: Bathydemersal. Found on sand and mud bottoms.
Feeding habits: Feeds on shrimp and crabs.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.5
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Data deficient.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
Borges T.C., Olim S., Erzini K. (2003). Weight–length relationships for fish species discarded in commercial fisheries of the Algarve (southern Portugal). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 19(6): 394-396.
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
Mendes B., Fonseca P., Campos A. (2004). Weight–length relationships for 46 fish species of the Portuguese west coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 20(5): 355-361.
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.
Olim S., Borges T.C. (2006). Weight–length relationships for eight species of the family Triglidae discarded on the south coast of Portugal. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 22(4): 257-259.
Santos M.N., Gaspar M.B., Vasconcelos P., Monteiro C.C. (2002). Weight–length relationships for 50 selected fish species of the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). Fisheries Research, 59(1): 289-295.
