Thinlip splitfin

The thinlip splitfin is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Synagropidae. It lives around Africa's Atlantic coast at a depth of and can grow up to long.

Distribution

The thinlip splitfin can be found in the Eastern Atlantic from Mauritania to Namibia, including the Cape Verde Islands.

Description

The thinlip splitfin is dark brownish above and paler below. It has 10 dorsal spines, 9 dorsal soft rays, 2 anal spines, and 9 anal soft rays. It attains a maximum size of total length, reaching sexual maturity at a total length of.

Habitat and biology

The thinlip splitfin is a bathypelagic fish which occurs near muddy bottoms at depths of. It is a predator of crustaceans such as euphasiids, mysids and decapods as well as fish and cephalopods. The species from the family Acropomatidae form loose aggregations normally near the bottom and some of them undertake a nocturnal migration towards the surface of the sea. The highest biomass density was recorded during a survey using a bottom trawl over the upper continental slope off of Angola. It is known to be an important component of the diet of the hake Merluccius senegalensis in the waters off of Dakar.

Taxonomy

Kaperangus microlepis was originally formally described in 1935 as Synagrops microlepis by the British ichthyologist John Roxborough Norman with the type locality given as "Off St. Paul de Loanda, Angola". In 2017 it was placed in the monotypic genus Kaperangus.