Biodiversity & Conservation

Red bandfish - Cepola rubescens - General information

Cepola rubescens

Image Keith Hiscock - Specimen of the red band fish Cepola rubescens. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Cepola rubescens recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Cepola rubescens is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Al Reeve Text page icon Refereed by:

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Chordata Sea squirts, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals
Class Actinopterygii Ray-finned fish, e.g. sturgeon, eels, fin fish, gobies, blennies, and seahorses
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Records for Cepola rubescens are few and restricted to the south west coasts of England and Wales and the south and south west of Ireland. The range of the red bandfish probably extends as far as the west coast of Scotland and all around Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Cepola rubescens is most commonly found in water 15 -200 m in depth on muddy or sandy bottoms. It lives in vertical burrows singly or in small groups and is occasionally seen swimming in midwater.
Text page icon Description Cepola rubescens is unmistakable. It is an elongate, thin fish which tapers to a pointed tail and has long dorsal and anal fins stretching almost the entire length of the body. It grows to a maximum of 70 cm, although the red bandfish is more commonly seen at sizes between 30 -35 cm. The back and sides of Cepola rubescens are red or orange-red in colour and the belly is orange or yellowish. The dorsal and anal fins are clear or yellowy with the first part of the dorsal fin coloured red. The silvery eye of the red bandfish is large, as is the mouth, which has a single row of pointed, slender, widely spaced teeth.

This review can be cited as follows:

Al Reeve 2005. Cepola rubescens. Red bandfish. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 31/07/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2920>