Common Name
Agassiz's Cusk-eel
Year Described
Goode & Bean, 1896
Identification
Dorsal Fin: 99-107
Anal Fin: 83-89
Pectoral Fin: 31-34
Caudal Fin: 7-8
Pelvic Fin: 1
Gill Rakers: 17-19 long rakers (lower limb of first arch)
Vertebrae: 12-14 precaudal, 61-64 total
Body elongate with a downward sloping head profile (nigripinnis group). Head compressed. Snout slightly longer than eye diameter. Eye diameter 4-4.2 times in HL. Mouth subterminal with jaw extending past rear of orbit. Maxilla sheathed dorsally and expended posteriorly. Small villiform teeth on premaxilla, dentary, vomer, and palatines. Basibranchial tooth patch present. Preopercular spines weak and easily bent. Opercle weakly ossified but with strong spine. Dorsal and anal fins continuous with tail. Tail is elongated. Pectoral fin short and rounded. Pelvic fin a single small ray. Body with fragile cycloid scales. Head not scaled.
Color
Body uniformly gray-brown. Inside of opercle dark. Edges of fins dark. Lateral line pale. Larvae translucent.
Size
Maximum size to over 200mm SL.
Habitat
Bathydemersal on soft bottoms from 48-1408m (adults deeper). Larvae in shallow midwater where they exhibit a distinctive coiling behavior.
Range
Nova Scotia to S. Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
References
Girard, M. G., H. J. Carter, & G. D. Johnson. 2023. New species of Monomitopus (Ophidiidae) from Hawaiʻi, with the description of a larval coiling behavior. Zootaxa, 5330(2), 265-279.
Carter, H. J., & D. M. Cohen. 1985. Monomitopus magnus, a new species of deep-sea fish (Ophidiidae) from the western North Atlantic. Bulletin of Marine Science, 36(1), 86-95.
Other Notes
The only known W. Atlantic member of the Monomitopus nigripinnis group, which has a slightly downward angled head and weakly ossified preopercle and opercle.