Scabbardfish

Lepidopus caudatus

Fish
IUCN: Data deficient

Usual depth75–422 m
Water temperature8–27 °C
Best monthsJanuary and May
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Josh Sutton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The silver scabbardfish, also known as the frostfish or beltfish, is a benthopelagic cutlassfish of the family Trichiuridae found throughout the temperate seas of the world. It grows to over 2 metres in length.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Silver scabbardfish”, 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: 1,274 records
February: 604 records
March: 58 records
April: 403 records
May: 772 records
June: 560 records
July: 385 records
August: 240 records
September: 469 records
October: 213 records
November: 55 records
December: 38 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 75–422 m · Deepest record: 3,208 m

0–10 m: 22 records
10–20 m: 4 records
20–30 m: 15 records
30–40 m: 21 records
40–50 m: 78 records
50–60 m: 122 records
60–70 m: 206 records
70–80 m: 307 records
80–90 m: 320 records
90–100 m: 257 records
100–110 m: 303 records
110+ m: 4,828 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 8–27 °C

6–8 °C: 1 records
8–10 °C: 1 records
10–12 °C: 5 records
12–14 °C: 27 records
14–16 °C: 291 records
16–18 °C: 255 records
18–20 °C: 254 records
20–22 °C: 33 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Alice Shanks, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Guillaume Clin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Emily Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kyle Van Houtan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mark Anderson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Aalbert Rebergen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Scabbardfish, Silver scabbardfish, Beltfish, Buttersnoek, Cutlassfish, Frostfish, Ribbonfish, scabbardfish, Scabbard fish, Scale-foot, silver scabbardfish, Silver Scabbard Fish, Silver scabbardfish, Scabbardfish, southern frostfish, Southern Frost-fish

Names in 4 more languages

German: Degenfisch, Strumpebandsfisk, Strumpfbandfisch
Spanish: Basurero, Cinta, Espadiella, pez cinto, Pez cinto, Sable, Sable Negro
French: Poisson-sabre argenté, Sabre argenté, Sabre, sabre argenté, Sabre argenté
Japanese: オビレダチ

Other scientific names: Lepidopus argenteus, Lepidopus gouanianus, Lepidopus lex, Lepidopus peronii, Lepidopus xantusi, Scarcina argyrea, Trichiurus caudatus, Trichiurus ensiformis, Trichiurus gladius, Vandellius lusitanicus, Ziphotheca tetradens

Similar species

Atlantic cutlass fish
Trichiurus lepturus
Black scabbardfish
Aphanopus carbo
Bigeye frostfish
Benthodesmus elongatus
Slender frostfish
Benthodesmus tenuis
Savalani hairtail
Lepturacanthus savala
Becker's Scabbardfish
Aphanopus beckeri

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).
8,861 open-data records from 1901 to 2024.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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