Brotula townsendi, Townsend's cusk eel

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Brotula townsendi Fowler, 1900

Townsend's cusk eel
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Brotula townsendi   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Brotula townsendi (Townsend\
Brotula townsendi
Picture by Randall, J.E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Ophidiiformes (Cusk eels) > Ophidiidae (Cusk-eels) > Brotulinae
Etymology: Brotula: Latin, brotula, -ae = little, bud, shoot (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: John Kirk Townsend (1809–1851) was an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Fowler.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated. Tropical; 28°N - 15°S

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Pacific Ocean: Hawaii and Johnston Island.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 75.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 34024)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 100 - 105; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 71 - 84. SL to 18 cm.
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabit shallow reefs (Ref. 1602). Benthic (Ref. 58302). Uncommon species (Ref. 34024). Oviparous, with oval pelagic eggs floating in a gelatinous mass (Ref. 205). Mature at 46 cm SL (Ref. 34024). Size of 18 cm SL given by Ref. 37816 seems in error.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Nielsen, J.G., D.M. Cohen, D.F. Markle and C.R. Robins, 1999. Ophidiiform fishes of the world (Order Ophidiiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of pearlfishes, cusk-eels, brotulas and other ophidiiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(18):178p. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 34024)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |