Tropical Pomfret

description

Habitat, Depth, Temperature and Presumed Schooling Pattern: All specimens were caught from October 2006 to June 2008, at 300 – 900 m depth, and between 30 and ~ 100 meters from the ocean floor. This data, alone, is enough to partially confirm the supposition made by Mead (1972) and Thompson & Russell (1996), about its benthopelagic and probable demersal habits. Temperature probably has an important role in the habitat preferences of the tropical pomfret, as all individuals were collected between 8 and 10 o C measured on occasions. In several fishing trips 3 – 10 individuals were caught in the same site and depth, very probably at the same time, which indicates grouping or schooling behavior. Diet: We examined stomach contents or vomit of 30 specimens. Of these, 40 % (N = 12) were empty and had not vomited; 46.7 % (14) preyed only on fishes and cephalopods, and 13.3 % (4) presented a diet of fishes, crustaceans (Oplophoridae, Scyllaridae and Squillidae), and cephalopods (5 – 7). The data confirm the benthopelagic habitat proposed by Mead (1972) and Thompson & Russell (1996), since some of the prey are considered bottom-dwelling species, e. g., the oplopherid shrimp and the scyllarid

First report of rare pomfrets (Teleostei: Bramidae) from Brazilian waters, with a key to Western Atlantic species

description

The genus Eumegistus is composed of two species, E. illustris Jordan & Jordan, 1922, from the Pacific, and E. brevorti from the Atlantic, known from West Africa (larvae), Cuba, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. We found few reports on E. brevorti, all preserved in institutions around the world. Additionally, we found other preserved specimens in museum internet sites, all listed in Table 3 together with those of the literature and of this study. This meso / bathypelagic species occurs between 384 and 1317 m and may reach 481 mm SL; adults are known usually from of offshore islands (Thompson & Russel, 1996; Hernández-Hamón et al., 1999; Bunkley-Williams & Williams, 2004; Moteki & Mundy, 2005; Richards, 2006). We examined 30 fishes (Table 1. A – B), ranging from 394 to 550 mm SL and weighing from 1.65 to 4.80 kg. Two females are the largest and heaviest specimens ever reported for the species. From this sample, 20 were males (425 – 523 mm SL), six were females (447 – 550 mm SL, Table 4, in part) and four were young adults of indeterminate sex, still having keels in the caudal peduncle’s horizontal rows of scales (394

First report of rare pomfrets (Teleostei: Bramidae) from Brazilian waters, with a key to Western Atlantic species

distribution

Distribution: Tropical Atlantic Ocean, from West Africa to Bahamas and the Caribbean area, Gulf of Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, and Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Bahia in Brazil. The present study extends the occurrence of the tropical pomfret southwards about 3,500 kilometers, since it was known only from the tropical North Atlantic. Proposed Brazilian name: “ Olho-de-Ovo ” (= egg-eye). This name was adopted by the Fishing Team due to the fact that many of the collected specimens arrived at surface with bulged eyes due to sudden decompression.

First report of rare pomfrets (Teleostei: Bramidae) from Brazilian waters, with a key to Western Atlantic species