Species: Ariomma regulus, Spotted Driftfish

Ariomma regulus (Poey, 1868)

Spotted Driftfish

Body a deep (depth 39-45% SL) compressed oval; 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, 7 + 6; 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, 50-60 on lateral line; scales on head don’t extend forwards past level of pupil.

Adult: silvery to light brown, back with small dark spots; 1st dorsal, pelvics and opercles black; eyes golden. Young with 3-5 dark bars on body.

Reaches 20 cm.

Adults feed on the bottom, mainly around the edges of the continental shelf; juveniles inshore, often around flotsam.

Depth range: 0-500 m, juveniles near surface, adults below 100 m.

New Jersey to the Guyanas.