Species: Symphurus piger, Deepwater Tonguefish
gut cavity black

Symphurus piger (Goode & Bean, 1886)
Deepwater Tonguefish
Body highly compressed, elongate, oval, tapers to pointed tail, relatively deep, head much shorter than wide, snout short and rounded; small close-set eyes on left side; lower eye relatively small; no cover for pupils; snout rounded; mouth small, curved, strongly so on blind side, extends to below front edge of lower eye; lower jaw without fleshy crest on eye-side; teeth along entire length of lower eyeside jaw, front ¾ of upper jaw; preopercle edge covered with skin; dorsal fin 80-90 rays, its origin behind or over rear edge of top eye; anal fin 68-74 rays; pectoral fins absent, represented by a fine membrane; only left pelvic fin present, 4 rays, on body midline, joined to anal fin by delicate membrane; dorsal and anal fins confluent with the pointed caudal fin; tail usually 12 rays; scales rough, on both sides of body; 62-75 lateral scales; eyes with 4-5 rows of small rough scales on front half; rays of dorsal and anal without scales on blind-side; no lateral line.
Top side dark brown, with 5-6 (3-10) darker brown sharply contrasting narrow crossbars on head and body; tail fin all dark; inside operculum pale; lining of gut cavity black; blind side without dark dots.
Size: 14 cm.
Habitat: soft mud bottoms.
Depth: 92-750 m.
South Carolina to French Guiana.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Mud
- FishBase Habitat
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- Bathydemersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- Extends N + S of GC
- Extends North of GC
- Extends South of GC
- GC endemic
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 14
- Depth Range Min
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- 92
- Depth Range Max
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- 750