Description: A medium-sized fish. Body very deep, laterally compressed; body depth 45-50% of standard length. Relatively large head, with very large lateral eyes, and skin-covered cavities around the eyes containing a transparent slimy liquid. Body covered in rough scales, including on the cheeks. Dorsal fin with 4 close-set spines followed by soft rays. Pectoral fins pointing steeply upward. Caudal fin deeply forked. Dorsal parts of head and body as well as the fins are bright red or orange; sides and ventral part of the body silvery pink; iris blood-red.
Global Distribution: Worldwide in temperate and tropical latitudes, except the eastern Pacific. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 100 cm; common to 35 cm; maximum weight 2.5 kg.
Depth range: FishBase: 110 - 1000 m, usually 200 - 400 m.
Canary Islands (Brito et al. 2002): 273 - 700, more abundant below 400 m depth.
Madeira (DSIDP): 200 - at least 1100 m.
Habitat: Demersal. Occurs on the continental slope; adults demersal, young pelagic.
Feeding habits: Feeds on crustaceans, small fishes and cephalopods.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.1
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Near threatened.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 126.69 kcal (6.3% DRV)
protein 18.03 g (36.1% DRV)
fat 5.42 g (7.7% DRV)
of which saturates 0.28 g (1.4% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.157 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
REFERENCES
Brito A., Pascual P.J., Falcón J.M., Sancho A., González G. (2002). Peces de las islas Canarias. Catálogo comentado e ilustrado. Francisco Lemos Editor, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 418 pp.
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 601-1374.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Direcção de Serviços de Investigação e Desenvolvimento da Pesca, Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira, Portugal.
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. 1, 326 pp.
Ferreira S., Sousa R., Delgado J., Carvalho D., Chada T. (2008). Weight-length relationships for demersal fish species caught off the Madeira archipelago (eastern-central Atlantic). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 24: 93-95.
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.
Pereira J.N., Simas A., Rosa A., Aranha A., Lino S., Constantino E., Monteiro V., Tariche O., Menezes G. (2012). Weight–length relationships for 27 demersal fish species caught off the Cape Verde archipelago (eastern North Atlantic). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 28(1): 156-159.
Rosa A., Menezes G., Melo O., Pinho M.R. (2006). Weight–length relationships of 33 demersal fish species from Azores archipelago. Fisheries Research, 80(2): 329-332.
