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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); afer: Name from Latin 'afer' meaning African, refers to the type locality; noun in apposition..

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

Marine; pelagic-neritic; depth range 22 - 32 m (Ref. 85161). Tropical

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

Western Indian Ocean: Mozambique and Kenya to South Africa.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 4.1 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 85161)

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Smith-Vaniz, W.F., 2023. Review of Indo-West Pacific jawfishes (Opistognathus: Opistognathidae), with descriptions of 18 new species. Zootaxa 5252(1):1-180. (Ref. 128653)

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 |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators

Ecology
Ecology

Population dynamics
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
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Egg(s)
Egg developments
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Distribution
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Anatomy
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Brains
Otoliths

Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)

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Genetics
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Stamps, coins, misc.

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 23 - 26.9, mean 25.3 °C (based on 9 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): 3.2 ±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 afer Smith-Vaniz, 2010