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Teleostei (teleosts) > Ovalentaria/misc (Various families in series Ovalentaria) > Opistognathidae (Jawfishes)
Etymology: Opistognathus: Greek, opisthe = behind + Greek, gnathos = jaw (Ref. 45335); to the very elongate upper jaw of the type species of the genus, Opistognathus nigromarginatus (Ref. 128653).

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

Marine; demersal; depth range 18 - 19 m (Ref. 58018). Tropical

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Western Indian Ocean: Shimoni, Kenya to Natal, South Africa.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.2 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5468)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 14; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 13 - 14. Black spot between the 3rd and 5th spines.

Inhabits burrows.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Smith-Vaniz, W.F., 1986. Opisthognathidae. p. 726-727. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 5468)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Data deficient (DD) ; Date assessed: 19 July 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Ecology
Ecology

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Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 24.4 - 28, mean 26.9 °C (based on 158 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.4 ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

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Opistognathus margaretae Smith-Vaniz, 1983