Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Scorpaeniformes
(Scorpionfishes and flatheads) > Triglidae
(Searobins) > Prionotinae
Etymology: Bellator: Latin, bellator, -oris = warrior.
Environment / Climate / Range
Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 40 - 110 m (Ref. 26938). Subtropical; 37°N - 20°N
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 12.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251)
Morphology | Morphometrics
Males have first 2 dorsal spines extremely long, reaching to tip of tail.
Western Atlantic: North Carolina to southern Florida and northern Gulf of Mexico in USA; south to Yucatan in Mexico.
Found from bays and estuaries to the mid-shelf. Neither anterolateral glandular grooves nor venom gland is present (Ref. 57406).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 96402)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Common namesSynonymsMetabolismPredatorsEcotoxicologyReproductionMaturitySpawningFecundityEggsEgg development
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5039 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01000 (0.00244 - 0.04107), b=3.04 (2.81 - 3.27), based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 3.5 ±0.5 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Low vulnerability (17 of 100) .