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Atlantic bearded brotula

Brotula barbata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Bearded brotula ( Brotula barbata ). Gulf of Mexico.

Bearded brotula ( Brotula barbata ). Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA's Fisheries Collection , SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC · Public domain · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

Brotula barbata, commonly known as the bearded brotula, Atlantic bearded brotula, or sugarfish, is a species of cusk-eel in the genus Brotula. It lives in the Atlantic Ocean, in depths of up to 300 meters. Its coloring ranges from olive-brown to red-brown, and it grows up to be around 50 centimeters. It has a carnivorous diet, and it is oviparous.

Wikipedia contributors, Brotula barbata; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:59:30.727401+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Brotula barbata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Name authority
(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Common name
Atlantic bearded brotula
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Ophidiiformes
Family
Brotulidae
Genus
Brotula
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. orderOphidiiformes
  11. familyBrotulidae Swainson, 1838
  12. genusBrotula Cuvier, 1829
  13. speciesBrotula barbata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Brotula. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Brotula flaviviridis Greenfield, 2005BrotulidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
goatsbeard brotulaBrotula multibarbata Temminck & Schlegel, 1846BrotulidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
fore-spotted brotulaBrotula ordwayi Hildebrand & Barton, 1949BrotulidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Pacific bearded brotulaBrotula clarkae Hubbs, 1944BrotulidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Brotula townsendi Fowler, 1900BrotulidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 6 records assigned to Brotulidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Enchelyopus barbatus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=159067 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:5X2WJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.