Author: Vaillant, 1888

Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888

Diagnosis: head large, about 15-20% SL, snout blunt, mouth terminal, lower jaw slightly projecting; eye large, 24.7-34.2% head length; chin barbel absent. Pyloric caeca 24-35 (usually 30). No elongate finrays; first dorsal fin with 11-13 finrays, second dorsal fin beginning just behind it; pectoral fin with 15-17 finrays; pelvic fin with 8 finrays (rarely 7); insertions of first dorsal, pectoral and pelvic fins in a straight line, usually vertical. Scales without spinules. No light organ. Colour: body light brown, fin membranes, branchiostegal membrane, gill chamber and body cavity black, gill filaments with a dark basal membrane and a dark median stripe along outer elements. Size: to 50 cm TL.

Habitat: benthopelagic at 450-2,650 m, mainly at 700-1,400 m. Food: mostly planktonic animals (copepods, amphipods, mysids, chaetognaths and small shrimps). Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: Atlantic northward to Irish continental shelf; elsewhere, southward to Cape of Good Hope, also western Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, off Surinam).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Vaillant, 1888: 248, pl. XVII (fig. 1).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Gadiformes
Family Macrouridae
Genus Bathygadus
Species Bathygadus melanobranchus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888

Scientific synonyms and common names

Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888

Synonyms:

Bathygadus vaillanti Roule & Angel, 1933
Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888, Expéd. scient. 'Travailleur' et 'Talisman':206, pl. 18 (fig. 1, la-lb). Holotype: MNHN no. 86-112; 11 paratypes: MNHN no. 86-96/97, 86 102/105, 86-111; USNM no. 42083, 42211, BMNH no. 1890.6.16; 2 paratypes: MNHN no. 86-114/115 (= B. favosus Goode & Bean).
Bathygadus melanobranchus: Collett, 1896b: 88 Holt & Byrne, 1908b: 57; 1910a: 5 Roule, 1919: 89 Farran, 1924: 120, fig. 9 Koefoed, 1927: 112 Fowler, 1936: 451, fig. 220 (after Vaillant, 1888) Schnakenbeck, 1938: 165 (fig. after Vaillant, 1888).
Melanobranchus melanobranchus: Regan, 1903a, (7)11: 459.
Bathygadus vaillanti Roule & Angel, 1933, Résult. Camp. scient. Prince Albert, 86: 63, pl. 3 (fig. 30).
Bathygadus vaillanti: Fowler, 1936: 1246, fig. 534 (after Roule & Angel, 1933) Maul, 1951: 10, fig. 1.


Common name:

vaillant's grenadier [En]

Collett, R. 1896b. Poissons provenant des campagnes du yacht l"Hirondelle' (1885-1888). Résult. Camp. scient. Prince Albert 1, 10: viii +198 p., pl. I-VI.

Farran, G. P. 1924. Seventh report on the fishes of the irish Atlantic slope. The Macrurid fishes (Coryphaenoididae). Proc. R. ir. Acad., 36 (8): 91-143,11 fig., pl. VI-VII.

Holt, E. W. L.; Byrne, L. W. 1908b. Second report on the fishes of the Irish atlantic slope. Fish. Irel. scient. Inv., 1906 [1908], 5: 1-63, 2 fig., 5 pl. Also publ. in Rep. Sea inld Fish. Ire., 1906 [1909], 2: 141-202, 2 fig., 5 pl.

Holt, E. W. L.; Byrne, L. W. 1910a. Fourth report on the fishes of the Irish Atlantic slope. List of recorded species with references. Fish. Ireland scient. Invest. 1908 [1910], 5: 1-7.

Koefoed, E. 1927. Fishes from the Sea-Bottom. Rep. scient. Results Michael Sars N. Atlant. deep Sea Exped., [tittle page: 1927, 1932], 4 (1): 148 p., 55 fig., 6 pl.

Maul, G. E. 1951. Notas sobre as duas especies do genero Neoscopelus. Bolm Mus. munic Funchal, 5 (13): 56-63.

Regan, C. T. 1903b. On a collection of fishes from the Azores. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (7)12: pp. 344-348.

Roule, L. 1919. Poissons provenant des campagnes du yacht 'Princesse Alice' (1891-1913) et du yacht 'Hirondelle II' (1914). Résult. Camp. scient. Prince Albert 1, 52: 191 p., 7 pl.

Roule, L.; Angel, F. 1933. Poissons provenant des campagnes du Prince Albert I de Monaco. Résult. Camp. scient. Prince Albert 1, 86: 1-115.

Fowler, H. W. 1936. The Marine Fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition 1909-1915. Bull. am. Mus. nat. Hist., 70 (1), Jan. 21, 1936: vii + 606 p., fig. 1-275; (2), Nov. 18, 1936: 607-1493, fig. 276-567.

Schnakenbeck, W. 1938. Bathygadus melanobranchus. In: L. Joubin, ed., Faune ichthyol. Atlant. N., Copenhagen: fiche 165.

Vaillant, L. 1888. Poissons in Expéditions scientifiques du 'Travailleur' et du 'Talisman' pendant les années 1880-1883. Masson, Paris, 406 p., 28 pl. Regan, C. T. 1903a. A Revision of the Fishes of the Family Lophiidae. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (7), 11: pp. 277-285.

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