Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) armatus or the Abyssal Grenadier Fish

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Gadiformes Family: Macrouridae Genus: Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) Species: C. armatus

The C. armatus is a deep marine water fish that resides in the bathypelagic level at about 282 - 5180m of depth.

Coryphaenoides armatus This is a distribution map of the sightings of the abyssal grenadier fish

A lot is unknown about these fish as is all deep water marine species.

Characteristics

2 dorsal spines 123-124 dorsal soft rays No anal spine; 115 anal soft rays Large eyes with a large head Elongated snout that is somewhat conical Small mouth; inferior/subterminal …show more content…
C. armatus feeds on benthic invertebrates when young such as crustaceans and holothuroids. As this fish ages though it switches to primarily mesopelagic adn bathypelagic fish, sea urchins adn cephalopods. It hunts out its food as most of its food source are mobile animals, making it an avid predator in the deep.

The sex ratio of this organism is 2.6 males to 1 female. The max length of this fish is said to be 102cm long for a male/unsexed specimen.

Since this fish is very elongated, it has developed a subcarangiform locomotion from the movements of its body and/or caudal fin.

Important to temperate waters and associated with soft-bottom …show more content…
Biometric data showed more major differences then the minor electrophoresis differences. The interocean genetic distance was observed to be very low across 22,000 kilometers seperating the sites. While 3 of 7 biometrics differed showing an apparent difference. Grenadiers from the North Pacific usually have a narrower interorbital space, shorter dorsal interspace, more soft rays in 1st dorsal and more pelvic fin rays than grenadiers from the western North Atlantic/Eastern South Pacific. This shows a disjunction of C. armatus in the Pacific at the Gulf of Panama. This suggests that North Pacific grendiers are a subspecies, C. armatus variabilis, that is morphologically distinct from C. armatus armatus