cigarfish

Cubiceps whiteleggii

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth76–552 m
Water temperature15–30 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and November
How commonOccasional

All species

Photo credit: (c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Cubiceps is a genus of driftfishes found circumglobally.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cubiceps”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 20 records
February: 19 records
March: 12 records
April: 43 records
May: 58 records
June: 15 records
July: 19 records
August: 28 records
September: 14 records
October: 28 records
November: 36 records
December: 24 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 76–552 m · Deepest record: 1,000 m

0–10 m: 2 records
10–20 m: 7 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 2 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 3 records
110+ m: 150 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 15–30 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 4 records
18–20 °C: 22 records
20–22 °C: 101 records
22–24 °C: 54 records
24–26 °C: 28 records
26–28 °C: 93 records
28–30 °C: 48 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: cigarfish, Indian driftfish, shadow driftfish

Names in 2 more languages

French: Derivant indien, Dérivant indien
Japanese: Bozukon-nyaku, ボウズコンニャク

Other scientific names: Cubiceps natalensis, Cubiceps squamiceps, Cubiceps whiteleggi, Mulichthys squamiceps, Psenes guttatus, Psenes squamiceps, Psenes stigmapleuron, Psenes whiteleggii, Psenes whitelegii

Similar species

Freckled driftfish
Psenes cyanophrys

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
563 open-data records from 1908 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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