Description

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 32 - 36; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 21 - 23; Vertebrae: 37 - 40. This species is distinguished from C. meridionalis by having fewer dorsal-fin rays (32-36 vs. 35-39); distal half of gill rakers with several short bristles, occasionally a small bristle at the tip (vs. several long bristles on distal half of raker and 1-2 long bristles extending from the tip of each raker); and morphology of dorsal pharyngeal papillae (low folds vs. fleshy tabs and small papillae); differs from C. fasciatus by having greater number of smaller teeth and vertebral count ajd the absence of a fingerlike papilla inside the opercle (sometimes absent in C. fasciatus); differs from C. digitus by the absence of a series of fingerlike papillae inside the opercle, having a short conical pharyngeal teeth (vs. elongate pharyngeal teeth), and fewer gill rakers (18-22 vs. 22-26) (Ref. 94277).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Scombriformes

Family: Caristiidae

Genus: Caristius

Species: Caristius macropus (Bellotti, 1903)

Climate Zone

Location

• North Pacific: from subtropical waters to the Bering Sea and the coast of Alaska to where it is apparently drifted by warm currents.

Biology

Occurs in midwaters in temperate latitudes. Fish remains have been found in manefish stomachs (Ref. 4525). From fry catches, it apparently reproduces in the subtropical zone (Ref. 95096).

Habitat

bathypelagic

Conservation Status

Not Evaluated

Threat to Humans

Harmless