Black Ribbon Fish - Aphanopus carbo

The BLACK SCABBARDFISH has a flattened black iridescent body shaped as a ribbon and a thin, forked tailfin. It has large eyes and mouth and has no scales. 
In Portugal it is found in the sea off Sesimbra and also in the Madeira Islands and the Azores, where it inhabits areas of great depth, between 200 and 1,600 m. It rises in the water column during the night to feed on fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. It spawns from October to January. It has a long life cycle, slow growth and low reproductive cycle, which makes it very sensitive to changes in the environment. 

It is fished with bottom longline that may be more than 1 km long.