Fish Identification Photos: Channel Scabbardfish, Evoxymetopon taeniatus: The Channel Scabbardfish has a silvery body with a slight red-brown coloration dorsally. It has a straight lateral line and a series of pale yellow stripes that run longitudinally along the body. Characteristically, it has very small caudal and pelvic fins and very short dorsal rays. The Channel Scabbardfish is reported to reach a maximum size of 5.5 feet and 9 pounds.

Channel Scabbardfish are found between latitudes 35 degrees north and 25 degrees south in the first 600 feet of the water column, but only on very rare occasions, with collections limited to waters off the Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Channel Scabbardfish is a member of the Trichiuridae Family which consists of Cutlassfish and Hairtails. In general, these fish have elongated ribbon-like bodies that are strongly compressed and taper to a slender tail.

They have a barracuda-like mouth equipped with large fangs. They are voracious predators. They have inconspicuous anal fins, a small caudal fin, no pelvic fins, small pectoral fins and scales are absent from the body.

They have a long dorsal fin base that extends the length of the body of which the soft rayed part is longer than the spinous part.

Globally, 32 species of Trichiuridae from nine genera have been identified of which only two species are found in Mexican waters, the Channel Scabbardfish in the Atlantic, and the Cutlassfish in the Pacific.

Channel Scabbardfish, Evoxymetopon taeniatus: Caught about 40 miles south of Cancun. It was 77 inches long, though the tail was only 4 inches wide. This fish was caught off of Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, on the 23rd of July within a mile of shore. Fish identification appeared in Saltwater Sportsman, November 2005, with identification credited to Dr. R. Wilson Laney, South Atlantic Fisheries Coordination Office. Photos and description information courtesy Kurt Radtke.