Trichiurus lepturus, Largehead hairtail : fisheries, gamefish
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Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758

Largehead hairtail
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Trichiurus lepturus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Trichiurus lepturus (Largehead hairtail)
Trichiurus lepturus
Picture by Osmany, H.B.

Common names from other countries

Poisson-sabre commun, Pez sable, Рыба-сабля, ... more

Classification / Names Nomi Comuni | Sinonimi | Catalog of Fishes(Genere, Specie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Scombriformes (Mackerels) > Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes) > Trichiurinae
Etymology: Trichiurus: Greek, thrix = hair + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335); lepturus: Specific name from Greek 'lepturus', for its thin or slender tail.
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / distribuzione batimetrica / distribution range Ecologia

marino; salmastro benthopelagico; amfidromo (Ref. 51243); distribuzione batimetrica 0 - 589 m (Ref. 58018), usually 100 - 350 m (Ref. 35388). Subtropical; 49°N - 54°S, 114°W - 180°E (Ref. 54931)

Distribuzione Stati | Aree FAO | Ecosystems | Presenze | Mappa dei ritrovamenti | Introduzioni | Faunafri

Circumtropical and Circumtemperate: including Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, Red Sea, Persian Gulf.

Length at first maturity / Size / Peso / Age

Maturità: Lm 50.6, range 30 - 99 cm
Max length : 234 cm TL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 26340); common length : 100.0 cm TL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 26999); peso massimo pubblicato: 5.0 kg (Ref. )

Short description Chiavi di identificazione | Morfologia | Morfometria

Spine dorsali (totale) : 3; Raggi dorsali molli (totale) : 130 - 135; Raggi anali molli: 100 - 105. Body extremely elongate, compressed and tapering to a point. Mouth large with a dermal process at the tip of each jaw. Dorsal fin relatively high; anal fin reduced to minute spinules usually embedded in the skin or slightly breaking through; anterior margin of pectoral fin spine not serrated. Pelvic and caudal fins absent. Lateral line beginning at the upper margin of the gill cover, running oblique to behind the tip of the pectoral fins, then straight close to the ventral contour. Fresh specimens steely blue with silvery reflections, becoming uniformly silvery gray sometime after death (Ref. 6181).
Body shape (shape guide): eel-like; Cross section: compressed.

Biologia     Glossario (es. epibenthic)

Generally over muddy bottoms of shallow coastal waters (Ref. 9351). Often enter estuaries (Ref. 9351). Juveniles feed mostly on euphausiids, small pelagic planktonic crustaceans and small fishes; adults feed mainly on fishes and occasionally on squids and crustaceans (Ref. 6181). Adults and juveniles have opposing complementary vertical diurnal feeding migration. Large adults usually feed near the surface during the daytime and migrate to the bottom at night. Juveniles and small adults form schools 100 m above the bottom during the daytime and form loose feeding aggregations at night near the surface. Pelagic eggs (Ref. 35388) and larvae (Ref. 6768). Max weight of 1.5 kg given in Ref. 28023 seems too low. The current angling world record was caught in Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay and weighed 3.69 kg. Commercial fisherman have caught fish of up to 5 kg (Capt. Eduardo Baumeier, pers. Comm., 2001). Marketed salted or dried and also frozen (Ref. 9351). Excellent taste when fried or grilled; also for sashimi when fresh.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturità | Riproduzione | Deposizione | Uova | Fecundity | Larve

Main reference Upload your references | Bibliografia | Coordinatore : Parin, Nikolay V. | Collaboratori

Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p. (Ref. 6181)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 29 January 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Pesca: elevato interesse commerciale; Pesce da pesca sportiva: si
FAO - pesca: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Informazioni ulteriori

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Alimentazione
Consumo di cibo
Food rations
Predatori
Ecologia
Ecologia
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Reclutamento
Abbondanza
Life cycle
Riproduzione
Maturità
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Deposizione
Spawning aggregations
Uova
Egg development
Larve
Dinamica popolazioni larvali
Distribuzione
Stati
Aree FAO
Ecosystems
Presenze
Introduzioni
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Area branchiale
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetica
Genome
Genetica
Heterozygosity
Ereditarietà
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Profili di acquacoltura
Varietà
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaboratori
Taxonomy
Nomi Comuni
Sinonimi
Morfologia
Morfometria
Immagini
Bibliografia
Bibliografia

Strumenti

E-book | Giuda pratica | Chiavi di identificazione | Generatore frequenze di lunghezza | Strumento Parametri Biologici | Mappa dei ritrovamenti | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

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Summary page | Point data | Nomi Comuni | Photos

Fonti Internet

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: Genere, Specie | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - pesca: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | Database Nazionali | OceanAdapt | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, ricerca | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Fonte Biblio. 123201): 10.1 - 23.2, mean 15.2 °C (based on 1178 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Fonte Biblio. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5010   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00035 (0.00029 - 0.00042), b=3.15 (3.10 - 3.20), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Fonte Biblio. 69278):  4.4   ±0.4 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 2.9 (1.3 - 4.2) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 15 growth studies.
Resilienza (Fonte Biblio. 120179):  Medio, tempo minimo di raddoppiamento della popolazione 1.4 - 4.4 anni (K=0.25-0.29; tm=2-3.7; tmax=15; Fec=21,672).
Prior r = 0.21, 95% CL = 0.14 - 0.32, Based on 3 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (52 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  High vulnerability (62 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 100 [30, 212] mg/100g; Iron = 1.23 [0.36, 2.72] mg/100g; Protein = 19.4 [17.7, 21.0] %; Omega3 = 0.256 [0.133, 0.574] g/100g; Selenium = 173 [63, 488] μg/100g; VitaminA = 3.29 [0.71, 21.47] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.855 [0.444, 1.405] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.