Issue
This species has been synonymized with Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758 for a long period.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 250 - 350 m (Ref. 6181). Deep-water; 31°N - 14°S, 32°E - 139°E (Ref. 6181)
Western Indian Ocean: Red Sea and west coast of India. Eastern Indian Ocean: Timor Sea.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 42.4 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181); common length : 23.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181)
Dorsal spines (total): 3; Dorsal soft rays (total): 106 - 116; Anal soft rays: 80. Body extremely elongate, compressed and tapering to a point. Mouth very large with a small dermal process at the tip of each jaw. Pelvic and caudal fins absent. Lateral line originating at the upper margin of the gill cover, running obliquely to behind the tip of the pectoral fins, then parallel to the ventral contour of the body. Fresh specimens are pearl white and slightly dusky dorsally; the margins of the dorsal and anal fins dusky in formalin.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: compressed.
Found in deep waters off Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. Feeds on deep water shrimps and small fishes like myctophids and gonostomatids. Caught with deep water trawls mixed together with other commercially important fish as bycatch.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p. (Ref. 6181)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: of no interest
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 11 - 21.8, mean 12.2 °C (based on 49 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5010 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00191 (0.00078 - 0.00466), b=3.12 (2.91 - 3.33), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.2 ±0.73 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming tmax>10).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (32 of 100).
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Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 167 [42, 435] mg/100g; Iron = 0.939 [0.262, 3.001] mg/100g; Protein = 17.7 [15.9, 19.6] %; Omega3 = 0.285 [0.122, 0.695] g/100g; Selenium = 57.5 [16.1, 220.8] μg/100g; VitaminA = 5.47 [0.58, 46.73] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.834 [0.382, 1.501] mg/100g (wet weight);
