Southern Bigscale, Poromitra atlantica (Norman 1929)

Other Names: Crested Bigscale, Large-headed Midnight Fish

Summary:

A relatively large uniform blackish-brown bigscale with moderately large eyes, well-defined scale pockets, well-developed serrated crest-like ridges on top of the head, a strongly serrated angle on the preopercular bone, and a large conspicuous spine on the head before the eyes.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2018, Poromitra atlantica in Fishes of Australia, accessed 18 Jan 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/3737

Southern Bigscale, Poromitra atlantica (Norman 1929)

More Info

Distribution	Off Fraser Island, southern Queensland, to east of Tasmania. Elsewhere the species is circumglobal in the Southern Hemisphere including the Southern Ocean, in depths of 200-2730 m.
Features	Dorsal fin III, 14-16; Anal fin I, 10-11.
Feeding	Feeds on plankton, including gelatinous organisms and small crustaceans.
Fisheries	Occasionally taken as bycatch in deepwater trawl fisheries.
Species Citation	Melamphaes atlanticus Norman 1929, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (Ser 10) 4 (no. 20) (art. 14): 165. Type locality: South Atlantic, 33°54'S, 16°04'E, depth 850-950 m.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2018

Southern Bigscale, Poromitra atlantica (Norman 1929)

References

Duhamel, G., Gasco, N. & Davaine, P. 2005. Poissons des îles Kerguelen et Crozet. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Patrimoines naturels: France. Vol. 63: 419 pp.

Gon, O. 1990. Melamphaidae. pp. 218-221 in Gon, O. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds). Fishes of the Southern Ocean. Grahamstown : J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 462 pp.

Kotlyar, A.N. 2009. Revision of the genus Poromitra (Melamphaidae). Part 4. Species of P. cristiceps group: P. atlantica, P. oscitans and P. agafonovae Kotlyar, species nova. Journal of Ichthyology 49(8): 563-574.

Kotlyar, A.N. 2010. Revision of the genus Poromitra (Melamphaidae): Part 6. Species of the P. megalops group. Journal of Ichthyology 50(3): 231-245.

Norman, J.R. 1929. A preliminary revision of the berycoid fishes of the genus Melamphaës. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 10) v. 4 (no. 20) (art. 14): 153-168.

Stewart, A.L. & Bray, D.J. 2015. Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. 2015. The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 3 pp. 577-1152.