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Teleostei (teleosts) > Ophidiiformes (Cusk eels) > Bythitidae (Livebearing brotulas)
Etymology: Lucifuga: Latin, lux = light + latin, fugere = to escape, to avoid, to run away from (Ref. 45335); lucayana: Named for its type locality, Lucayan Caverns, graveyard of the Lucayan Indians who inhabited the Bahamas for 2000 years and were eliminated by the European invaders.
More on authors: Møller, Schwarzhans, Iliffe & Nielsen.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 12 - 20 m (Ref. 57878). Subtropical

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Western Atlantic: Caribbean, Bahamas.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.9 cm SL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 84 - 91; Anal soft rays: 63 - 69; Vertebrae: 50 - 52. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: Vertebrae 12-13+37-39=50-52, dorsal fin rays 84-91, anal fin rays 63-69, pectoral fin rays 17-18, caudal fin rays 10; head profile above eye strongly depressed, scales on occiput, eyes present (0.9-1.0 % SL); palatine teeth absent; color uniformly light brown, long gill-rakers 3, pale (Ref. 57878).

Found in an anchialine cave which is connected to the sea via a submerged passage which opens into a tidal saltwater creek. The upper about 14 m in the cave consists of freshwater (22 °C), separated from a lower, slightly warmer (23-25 °C), salty layer by a distinct halocline. The holotype was taken in a depth of 12 m, which must then most likely to be freshwater; some where collected from one or two inland sink holes (Ref. 57878).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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Møller, P.R., W. Schwarzhans, T.M. Iliffe and J.G. Nielsen, 2006. Revision of the Bahamian cave-fishes of the genus Lucifuga (Ophidiiformes, Bythitidae), with description of a new species from islands on the Little Bahama Bank. Zootaxa 1223:23-46. (Ref. 57878)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Endangered (EN) (B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)); Date assessed: 26 August 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Ecology
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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 26.3 - 28, mean 27 °C (based on 198 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5078 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00447 (0.00172 - 0.01163), b=3.10 (2.87 - 3.33), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.3 ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Lucifuga lucayana Møller, Schwarzhans, Iliffe & Nielsen, 2006