Common Name
Elongate Deepsea Cardinalfish
Year Described
Parr, 1933
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VI-I, 11
Anal Fin: I, 10
Pectoral Fin: 16
Lateral Line: 35 + 4 on caudal fin
Gill Rakers: 15 on first arch (11 on lower limb)
Vertebrae:
Body very slender and laterally compressed. Body depth 20% SL. Head length 36% SL. Snout rather long (longer than eye). Large terminal mouth. Maxillary barely reaches front of orbit. Lower jaw with two rows of teeth. Upper jaw and palatine with one row of teeth. Vomerine teeth a crescent in two rows. Pectoral fins very long; reaching to rear base of anal fin. Lateral line continuous. Two rows of scales above lateral line and 10 below at anal fin. Cheeks scaled. Scales deciduous and ctenoid.
Color
Described as uniformly black.
Size
Holotype is 32.5mm SL.
Habitat
Single specimen taken at 2133.6m.
Range
Known only from off the Bahamas.
References
Parr, A. E. 1933. Deepsea Berycomorphi and Percomorphi from the waters around the Bahama and Bermuda islands. (Scientific results of the third oceanographic expedition of the “Pawnee” 1927.). Bulletin of the Bingham Oceanographic Collection Yale University v. 3 (art. 6): 1-51.
Other Notes
The taxonomy of this species is unclear. The Catalog of Fishes considers it a synonym of Brephostoma carpenteri, which may be a Howellidae, but Fishbase and other references keep both names as valid. If the two are synonyms then this species has a circumtropical distribution. The description of B. carpenteri is a bit different from Br. elongata in having 5 dorsal spines, 10 dorsal rays, 9 anal rays, a snout shorter than eye diameter, and palatine and vomer without teeth. The two specimens of each species (from the Bahamas and the Bay of Bengal) may be related but with the variation indicative of separate species.