Teleostei (teleosts) > Stomiiformes (Lightfishes and dragonfishes) > Sternoptychidae (Marine hatchetfishes) > Maurolicinae
Etymology: Maurolicus: Greek,mauros, -os, -on = dark + Greek,lykos = wolf (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Gmelin.

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 271 - 1524 m (Ref. 5204) usually 300 - 400 m (Ref. 82363); deep-water; 72°N - 55°S180°W - 180°E.

Sub-Arctic, and sub-Antarctic waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Eastern Atlantic:: from Iceland and Norway to Senegal and from Democratic Republic of the Congo to Namibia. In tropical and subtropical waters.

Maturity: L_m ?, range ? - ? cm
Max length: 8.0 cm TL male/unsexed (Ref. 35388); common length: 4.0 cm TL male/unsexed (Ref. 56527); max. reported age: 3 years (Ref. 56527).

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9 - 11; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 19 - 24. Silvery with a greenish-blue back (Ref. 4054).

Oceanic, found to depths of at least 1,524 m. Migrate in the water column at depths of 150-250 m during the day and to about 50 m at night (Ref. 57912, 107678). Mesopelagic (Ref. 5951); abundant near continental shelf-slope breaks and seamounts, rare in the open ocean (Ref. 107678). A cyclic selective feeder of copepods and euphausiids (Ref. 4739). They become sexually mature when 1 year old. Spawning takes place in March - September, producing 200-500 eggs, floating on the surface (Ref. 35388). Lipid content is 5.5 % in fresh body weight and wax ester is 15.3 % in total lipids (Ref. 8966).

Spawns at least twice in in a lifetime (Ref. 57912).

Wheeler, A. 1992 A list of the common and scientific names of fishes of the British Isles. J. Fish Biol. 41(suppl.A):1-37. (Ref. 5204)

  Least Concern (LC); date assessed: October 09 2018

Not Evaluated

Not Evaluated

  Harmless

Fisheries: minor commercial.
FAO - Fisheries: landings, Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 3.2 - 13.3, mean 7.1 °C (based on 301 cells).

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

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00661 (0.00456 - 0.00957), b=3.23 (3.13 - 3.33), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.0 ±0.0 se; Based on diet studies.

Generation time: 1.2 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.88; Fec=200-500; tm=1).

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

Climate vulnerability (Ref. 125649): Low vulnerability (23 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Nutrients (Ref. 124155): Calcium = 111 [41, 279] mg/100g; Iron = 0.673 [0.291, 1.900] mg/100g; Protein = 16.8 [15.2, 18.4] %; Omega3 = 0.2 [0.1, 0.5] g/100g; Selenium = 16.4 [5.1, 46.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 51.8 [6.4, 402.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.988 [0.527, 1.989] mg/100g (wet weight);