Relevant synonyms Cubiceps ismaelensis Misidentification None Meristic formula D1, X-XII; D2, 27-33; A, II-III+26-33; P, 18-20.  drawing : Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body compressed, with narrow caudal peduncle. Medium-sized mouth, ending under anterior part of eye. Teeth in lower jaw knife-like; small and gently curved in the upper jaw. Two dorsal fins, the first originated above the operculum vertically in front of pectoral fin origin. Caudal fin forked. Very small scales, covering dorsal and anal fins bases. Tubes scales of lateral line close to dorsal profile. color : dark blueish to grey-brownish and purple. Upper margin of dorsal fins and lower margin of anal fin dark. size : common 12-16 cm (max. Mediterranean 60 cm, elsewhere 80 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Tetrapterus spp.: body cylindrical and elongated, first dorsal fin origin behind vertical of pectoral fin origin. Centrolophus spp. and Schedophilus spp.: a single dorsal fin. Cubiceps spp.: 20-26 soft rays in the second dorsal fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Feeds on zooplankton and small mesopelagic fishes. habitat : juveniles epipelagic or mesopelagic, often under floating objects. Adults demersal on the continental slope.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Algeria, 1955. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : temperate and warm water. Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific oceans. Mediterranean : recorded first in Algeria (Dieuzeide and Roland, 1955); successively recorded from Morocco (Maurin, 1962, 1968), Balearic Islands (Riera et al., 1995), Gulf of Lions and Provence (Quignard and Tomasini, 2000). Strait of Messina, Italy. ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Rare. speculated reasons for success : MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via Gibraltar. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS No commercial value.

KEY REFERENCES Dieuzeide R. and Roland J., 1955. Sur un Stromateidae nouveau du genre Cubiceps. Bulletin des travaux publiés par la station d'aquaculture et de pêche de Castiglione, (n.s.) 7: 341-368. Maurin C., 1962. Etude des fonds chalutables de la Méditerranée occidentale. (Ecologie et Pêche). Résultats des campagnes des navires océanographiques "Président-Théodore-Tissier" 1957 et 1960 et "Thalassa" 1960 et 1961. Revue des Travaux de l'Institut des Pêches maritimes, 26(2): 163-218. Maurin C., 1968. Ecologie ichthyologique des fonds chalutables atlantiques (de la baie ibéro-marocaine à la Mauritanie) et de la Méditerranée occidentale. Revue des Travaux de l'Institut des Pêches maritimes, 1: 1-147.   Quignard J.P. and Tomasini J.A., 2000. Mediterranean Fish Biodiversity. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 7 (3): 1-66. Riera F., Grau A.M., Pastor E. and Pou S., 1995. Faunistical and demographical observations in Balearic ichthyofauna. Meridionalization or subtropicalization phenomena. Actes du Colloque Scientifique (Okeanos): La Méditerranée: variabilités climatiques, environnement et biodiversité: 213-220. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: January 2009 ©ciesm 2002