Common Name
Bermuda Halfbeak
Year Described
Collette, 1962
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 13-15 (usually 14)
Anal Fin: 12-14 (usually 13)
Pectoral Fin: 10-12 (usually 11)
Pelvic Fin: 6
Gill Rakers: 37-45 (first arch)
Lower jaw elongate. Preorbital ridge absent and snout scaleless. Pectoral fin relatively short: does not extend past nasal opening when depressed forward. Caudal fin forked with lower lobe much longer than upper lobe.
Color
Body bright silvery with a dark blue back. Tip of lower jaw red. Upper caudal lobe orange to yellow.
Size
Maximum size to 44cm TL.
Habitat
Inshore forming large schools near the surface.
Range
Endemic to Bermuda.
References
Collette, B.B. 2002. Hemiramphidae (pp 1135-1144). In: Carpenter. 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae-Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guides for Fisheries Purposes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5.
Other Notes
Hemiramphus brasiliensis is the sister species to this taxon from the mainland coast.