Family BREGMACEROTIDAE

Bregmacerotidae

© Copyright Ros Poole.

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Introduction

Bregmacerotids are pelagic in all tropical and subtropical seas. A single genus with 14 species is recognised (Eschmeyer & Fong, 2015). Six species have been recorded from Australia, and an additional, possibly undescribed, species occurs off north-western Australia.

Some codlets are oceanic whereas others occur in inshore waters. They have the first dorsal fin represented by a single ray on the head, as well as elongate, opposite and emarginate second dorsal and anal fins and jugular pelvic fins with some elongate rays. Maximum length is about 12 cm.

The unicorn cods or codlets were revised by d'Ancona & Cavinato (1965), Belyanina (1974) and Houde (1984). Munro (1950) described larval Bregmaceros from Australian waters. Few adult specimens are represented in collections and the Australian species require study. Although recent papers by Torii et al. (2003a, 2003b, 2004) have solved some of the problems, a comprehensive revision of Australian material is needed.

General References

Belyanina, T.N. 1974. Materials on development, taxonomy and distribution of the fishes of the family Bregmacerotidae. Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 96: 143-188 figs 1-12 [in Russian]

Cohen, D.M. 1990. Families Bregmacerotidae, Euclichthyidae, Gadidae. pp. 16-89 in Cohen, D.M., Inada, T., Iwamoto, T. & Scialabba, N. FAO Species Catalogue. Gadiform fishes of the world (order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125. Rome : FAO Vol. 10 442 pp.

D'Ancona, U. & Cavinato, G. 1965. The fishes of the family Bregmacerotidae. Dana Reports 64: 1-93 figs 1-58

Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fong, J.D. 7 January 2015. Species by family/subfamily in the Catalog of Fishes. http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp

Houde, E.D. 1984. Bregmacerotidae: development and relationships. pp. 300-308 figs 153-157 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

Munro, I.S.R. 1950. Revision of Bregmaceros with descriptions of larval stages from Australasia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 61(5): 37-53 figs 1-10

Paulin, C.D. 1983. A revision of the family Moridae (Pisces : Anacanthini) within the New Zealand region. Records of the National Museum of New Zealand 2(9): 81-126 figs 1-27

Torii, A., Harold, A.S. & Ozawa, T. 2003a. Redescription of type specimens of three Bregmaceros species (Gadiformes: Bregmacerotidae): B. bathymaster, B. rarisquamosus, and B. cayorum. Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University 52: 23-32 figs 1-6

Torii, A., Javonillo, R. & Ozawa, T. 2004. Reexamination of Bregmaceros lanceolatus Shen, 1960 with description of a new species Bregmaceros pseudolanceolatus (Gadiformes: Bregmacerotidae). Ichthyological Research 51: 106-112 figs 1-7

Torii, A., Ozawa, T. & Harold, A.S. 2003b. Morphological characters of Bregmaceros japonicus Tanaka, 1908 (Gadiformes: Bregmacerotidae). Memoirs of the Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University 52: 43-50 figs 1-8

Common Name References

Iwamoto, T. 1999. Families Macrouridae, Bathylagidae, Moridae, Bregmacerotidae. pp. 1986-1998 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 3 pp. 1397-2068. [1997] (FAO) (Codlets, Codlings)

Whitley, G.P. 1966. Marine Fishes of Australia. Brisbane : Jacaranda Press Vol. 1 pp. 1-142. [59] (Unicorn Cod)

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