Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; demersal; depth range 10 - 200 m (Ref. 121768). Tropical; 36°N - 34°S, 24°E - 154°E
Indo-West Pacific: Algoa Bay, South Africa to southern Japan and Australia.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 30.0  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 90.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 559)
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12 - 14; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 10 - 12. Dorsal part of body without prickles, belly covered with prickles (Ref. 559). Greenish or dark grey above, silvery white below (Ref. 4919). Distinguished from other Lagocephalus species by the black gill opening (Ref. 559).
Found in the shelf edge (Ref. 11230). Closely resembles the Atlantic species L. laevigatus Linnaeus which reaches southern Angola (Ref. 4919).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Smith, M.M. and P.C. Heemstra, 1986. Tetraodontidae. p. 894-903. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 4919)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Poisonous to eat (Ref. 559)
Human uses
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 16.6 - 28.3, mean 26.4 °C (based on 1313 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5005 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02692 (0.01731 - 0.04185), b=2.86 (2.73 - 2.99), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.9 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Generation time: 2.1 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1
growth studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.53).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate vulnerability (36 of 100).