Dissostichus eleginoides, Patagonian toothfish : fisheries

Dissostichus eleginoides Smitt, 1898

Patagonian toothfish
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Dissostichus eleginoides   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Dissostichus eleginoides
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Perciformes/Notothenioidei (Icefishes) > Nototheniidae (Cod icefishes) > Pleuragrammatinae
Etymology: Dissostichus: Greek, disso = twice, one or other + Greek, stix, stichos =line, row (Ref. 45335); eleginoides: eleginoides deriving from the genus Eleginops for an assumed resemblance to that genus (Ref. 11892).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 2144 m (Ref. 127764), usually 70 - 1500 m (Ref. 2121). Temperate; 33°S - 66°S, 77°W - 180°E (Ref. 54228)

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Southeast Pacific and Southwest Atlantic: southern Chile round the coast to Patagonia (Argentina) and the Falkland Islands. Southwest Pacific: Macquarie Island. Southern Ocean: South Georgia. Also known from sub-Antarctic islands and seamounts of the Indian sector.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 49.0, range 38 - 60 cm
Max length : 215 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2121); common length : 70.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2121); max. published weight: 9.6 kg (Ref. 58336); max. reported age: 31 years (Ref. 87879)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 8 - 10; Dorsal soft rays (total): 28 - 30; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 28 - 30; Vertebrae: 53 - 54. Lateral line scales 88-104 (upper), 61-77 (lower).
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

At 12-15 cm TL, semi-pelagic juveniles become demersal at 150-400 m depth (Ref. 55957). Adults migrate to deeper habitats at depths greater than 1,000 m (Ref. 55957). Utilized as food fish (Ref. 4931).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

May spawn for the first time from around 8-10 years of age (Ref. 71843).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Dewitt, H.H., P.C. Heemstra and O. Gon, 1990. Nototheniidae. p. 279-331. In O. Gon and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Fishes of the Southern Ocean. J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown, South Africa. (Ref. 5179)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

Not Evaluated 

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: species profile, landings search; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
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Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: species profile, landings search; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00631 (0.00357 - 0.01114), b=3.15 (2.99 - 3.31), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		4.5   ±0.8 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec=230,000; tmax>=21).
Rate of population increase Prior r = 0.33, 95% CL = 0.21 - 0.49, Based on 1 full stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Very high vulnerability (81 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability
(Ref. 125649) 		Moderate to high vulnerability (47 of 100). 🛈
Price category
(Ref. 80766) 		Very high.
Nutrients
(Ref. 124155) 		Calcium = 11.6 [6.5, 19.8] mg/100g; Iron = 0.335 [0.184, 0.568] mg/100g; Protein = 17.6 [15.9, 19.6] %; Omega3 = 0.744 [0.429, 1.253] g/100g; Selenium = 31.2 [16.4, 58.5] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.39 [3.17, 28.34] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.313 [0.219, 0.453] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.