Species: Ariomma bondi, Silver-rag, Silver Rag Driftfish, Silver-rag Driftfish

Ariomma bondi Fowler, 1930

Silver-rag, Silver-rag Driftfish, Silver Rag Driftfish

Body slender (depth 24-27% SL), rounded; head long; snout short and blunt; eye large (> snout), covered with a fatty-tissue lid that extends to nostrils; mouth small, ends before eye, upper jaw almost completely covered by suborbital bone under eye; teeth tiny, conical, in a single row on jaws, lower teeth often with secondary points; no teeth on roof of mouth or on bases of gill arches; gill rakers slender, 8-10 + 15-18; operculum thin, with smooth edge; 2 dorsal fins that are almost not separated; first dorsal with XI long, slender spines that fold into a groove, second dorsal low, 14-15 rays; anal fin similar to second dorsal, 14-15 rays; pelvics inserted under or behind pectoral base, fold into a broad groove along belly midline; tail base short and slender, square in cross-section, with 2 low fleshy keels on base of tail fin; tail fin stiff and strongly forked; lateral line high along back, an extension forwards over eye; scales smooth, very thin and easily shed, 30-45 on lateral line, at most 2 rows between dorsal fin and lateral line; scales on head don’t extend forwards past level of pupil.

Dark blue on back, silvery below, no spots; young with 3-6 dark bars on side; lining of gut cavity silvery to pale, with scattered tiny dark dots.

Reaches 30 cm.

Demersal to benthopelagic over muddy bottoms on outer continental shelf.

Depth range: 25-640 m, juveniles near surface.

E and W Atlantic; Nova Scotia to Uruguay.