Family : Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes) , subfamily: Trichiurinae
Order : Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class : Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Fishbase Name : Pearly hairtail
Fish Name : Trichiurus auriga
Max size : 35.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 6181)
Environment : benthopelagic ; depth range 250 - 350 m
Climate : deep-water; 31°N - 14°S
Global Importance : fisheries: of no interest
Resilience: Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming tmax>10)Distribution : Western Indian Ocean: Red Sea and west coast of India. Western Pacific: Timor Sea. This species has long been synonymized with Trichiurus lepturus.
Diagnosis : Dorsal spines (total): 3-3; Dorsal soft rays (total): 106-116; Anal soft rays: 80-80. Body extremely elongate, compressed and tapering to a point. Mouth very large with a small dermal process at the tip of each jaw. Pelvic and caudal fins absent. Lateral line originating at the upper margin of the gill cover, running obliquely to behind the tip of the pectoral fins, then parallel to the ventral contour of the body. Fresh specimens are pearl white and slightly dusky dorsally; the margins of the dorsal and anal fins dusky in formalin.
Biology : Found in deep waters off Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. Feeds on deep water shrimps and small fishes like myctophids and gonostomatids. Caught with deep water trawls mixed together with other commercially important fish as bycatch
Threatened : Dangerous:
Dangerous : harmless
Coordinator : Parin, Nikolay V.
Main Ref : Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin. 1993. (Ref. 6181)
India country information
Common Names : [ No common name ]
Status : native
Salinity : marine
Uses : no uses