Common Name
Atlantic Lanternbelly
Year Described
Mochizuki & Sano, 1984
Identification
Dorsal Fin: IX, I-10
Anal Fin: III, 7
Pectoral Fin: 15-16 (usually 16)
Pelvic Fin: I, 5
Lateral Line Scales: 45-49
Gill Rakers: 24-28 total in first arch (16-18 in lower limb)
Vertebrae: 10 precaudal, 15 caudal; 25 total.
Body fairly deep with body depth 2.9-3.4 times in SL. Lower and upper jaw symphyses with a large canine on either side. Mid-lateral side of lower jaw with tiny villiform teeth (not canines). Rest of jaw with villiform teeth. Basioccipital fossa absent. Preopercle weak and without serrations. Dorsal fins close together. Anterior margins of fin spines smooth. First anal fin pterygiophore curved, with an expanded tip with a hollow indentation on the antero-dorsal end. Body with mainly ctenoid scales but a narrow patch of cycloid scales on the lateral side of body (Yamanoue et al., 2009).
Color
Uniformly dark to light brown in preservative.
Size
Adults from 116-189mm SL.
Habitat
Continental shelf from 180-650m.
Range
Scattered records in the Caribbean: off Cuba and Colombia.
References
Heemstra, P.C. 2002. Parazenidae (Pp. 1203-1204), Zeniontidae (Pp. 1205-1206), Zeidae (Pp. 1207-1209), Oreosomatidae (Pp. 1212-1213), Grammicolepidae (Pp. 1214-1216), Moronidae (Pp. 1294-1296), Acropomatidae (Pp. 1299-1303). In: Carpenter, 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic Vol. 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guides for Fisheries Purposes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5.
Mochizuki, K. and M. Sano. 1984. A new percichthyid fish Neoscombrops atlanticus from the Caribbean Sea. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology v. 30 (no. 4): 335-340.
Yamanoue, Y. , G.D. Johnson, and W.C. Starnes. 2009. Redescription of a poorly known acropomatid, Verilus sordidus Poey 1860, and comparison with Neoscombrops atlanticus Mochizuki and Sano 1984 (Teleostei: Perciformes). Ichthyological Research v. 56 (no. 4): 400-406.
Yamanoue, Y. 2016. Revision of the genus Verilus (Perciformes: Acropomatidae) with a description of a new species. Journal of Fish Biology 89(5): 2375-2398.
Other Notes
Originally in the genus Neoscombrops.