The first description of oarfish Regalecus glesne (Regalecus russellii Cuvier 1816) ageing structures

Journal of Applied Ichthyology
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Abstract

Despite being a large, conspicuous teleost with a worldwide tropical and temperate distribution, the giant oarfish Regalecus spp. remain very rare fish species in terms of scientific sampling. Subsequently, very little biological information is known about Regalecus spp. and almost nothing has been concluded in the field of age and growth (Roberts, 2012). No studies of otoliths or temporal (annual) markings on any hard structures have been reported, and to our knowledge otoliths have never been recovered from any specimens (Tyson Roberts, personal communication),although a few texts do provide illustrations of Regalecus sp. otoliths (Lin and Chang, 2012; Nolf, 2013). Further inferential difficulty comes from the fact that age and growth studies of any Lampridiforme species are rare. Lampris guttatus is perhaps the only Lampridiforme species for which any biological information has been reported(Francis et al., 2004), which stems from the species commercial value. In order to begin understanding any species (for later purposes of management, conservation, etc.), basic biological information is needed. In the present study, we examine not only the first Regalecus russellii otolith, but provide suggestions toward future work that should direct data collection that can be used to generate basic biological information for this species.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title The first description of oarfish Regalecus glesne (Regalecus russellii Cuvier 1816) ageing structures
Series title Journal of Applied Ichthyology
DOI 10.1111/jai.12967
Volume 32
Issue 1
Year Published 2016
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Leetown
Description 4 p.
First page 113
Last page 116
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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