Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Beloniformes
(Needle fishes) > Hemiramphidae
Etymology: Euleptorhamphus: Greek, eu = good + Greek, leptos = thin + greek, rhamphos = bill, peak (Ref. 45335).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 1 m (Ref. 58302). Subtropical
Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii (Ref. 583) and Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to Australia, New Zealand and Kermadec Islands (Ref. 8879). Eastern Pacific: southern California, USA to Ecuador, including the Galapagos Islands (Ref. 2850).
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 25 - ? cm
Max length : 53.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 55763); common length : 30.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9306)
soft rays: 20 - 25;
Vertebrae: 70 - 75. Body very elongate; lower jaw very prolonged; upper jaw short, triangular, and scaly; teeth present on vomer and tongue; dorsal fin with 22 to 25 rays; anal fin with 22 to 24 rays; pectoral fins long, with 8 or 9 rays; back iridescent blue green; belly silvery (Ref. 55763). Fins unpigmented (Ref. 4164).
Usually oceanic but enters large open bays (Ref. 2850). Found around islands (Ref. 9306). Capable of jumping out of the water and gliding above the surface (Ref. 9306).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Collette, B.B. and J. Su, 1986. The halfbeaks (Pisces, Beloniformes, Hemiramphidae) of the Far East. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 138(1):250-301. (Ref. 10943)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 123251)
CITES (Ref. 118484)
Threat to humans
Fisheries: minor commercial
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969
): 20.2 - 29.2, mean 26.9 °C (based on 43417 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (0.00046 - 0.00225), b=3.06 (2.88 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic level (Ref. 69278
): 3.4 ±0.45 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179
): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Low to moderate vulnerability (29 of 100) .