Description

SINGLE PAPER

Volume 9, Issue 2 – November 2004

Áthila Bertoncini Andrade, Guilherme Scheidt de Souza Soares, João Pedro Barreiros, João Luiz Gasparini and Maurício Hostim-Silva: First record of  Darwin´s slimehead, Gephyroberyx darwinii (Johnson, 1866) (Beryciformes: Trachichthyidae), in association with Brazilian deep reefs, pp. 65-68

Abstract

Three species of the Trachichthyidae family occur in the south of Brazil: Paratrachichthys atlanticus, Hoplostethus occidentalis and Gephyroberyx darwinii. G. darwinii may attain a length of 600 mm (TL). This benthopelagic species occurs at depths down to 1210 m and is generally found in subtropical waters between 43ºN and 35ºS. It is commercially exploited in the east central Atlantic for food and for oil. In this paper we report the occurrence of G. darwinii off the south and south-east coasts of Brazil between Vila Velha (Espírito Santo State) and Rio Grande (Rio Grande do Sul State), in  outer shelf and slope areas, at depths between 70 and 520 m. In Brazil the trachichthyids were usually caught while fishing for Lophius gastrophysus over deep coral bottoms. Meristic and biometric data are presented for the three collected specimens.