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Type Description

Lagocephalus suezensis has an inflatable body, which, when not inflated, appears elongated and round in front, tapering toward the caudal fin. Its dorsal and anal fins have pointed short bases and are positioned posteriorly. The caudal fin is either forked or lunated. The pectoral fin has a wide base and round margin, while the pelvic fin is absent. It features a large head with a blunt snout, a small mouth with beak-like jaws containing two teeth in each jaw. The gill slit is located in front of the pectoral fin base, and the fish lacks scales but has minute spinules on the belly and dorsal surface, extending to the origin of the dorsal fin. Additionally, it possesses two lateral lines that curve anteriorly around the eyes. In terms of coloration, it ranges from back-brown to olive grey with irregularly shaped darker brown to grey dots in various sizes, along with a bright silver stripe on the side and a white belly. The common size of L. suezensis is between 7 and 15 cm, with a maximum length of 18 cm.

Habitat

"L. suezensis is an introduced Lessepsian species in the Mediterranean living on benthic sandy and muddy substratum, down to 40 m depth.
Lagocephalus suezensis is an endemic species found exclusively in the Red Sea worldwide. In the Mediterranean, it was initially recorded in Lebanon, misidentified as L. sceleratus (Mouneimne, 1977), and later confirmed in Israel (Golani, 1996). Subsequent records include findings in Rhodes (Corsini et al., 2005), and more recently, it has been recorded in Libya (Ben Abdallah et al., 2011)."

Reproductive Information

The females spawns in summer, the fertilize planktonic eggs hatch giving swimming planktonic larvae.

Lifecycle

Nutrition Information

It feeds on benthic invertebrates.

General Impact Information

General Management Information

General Pathway Information

It is a recent Lessepsian migrant into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, which it reached through the Suez Canal, and it is spreading towards the western Mediterranean.

Notes

Like other members of the family, Lagocephalus suezensis is capable of inflating its body when threatened by engulfing water or air (when taken out of the water).

References