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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the alfonsino. There are currently three described species of these red-toned, deep-water fish. They average about a foot, 30 centimeters, long, but they have been recorded at more than double that length. These fish have big, red eyes, silvery-red scales, and scales on their cheeks. When young, alfonsinos sport hard, prominent spines on their head, but these are lost by adulthood. Their red tone has led to another of their common names: the red bream, but they're also known as imperadors.

Alfonsinos are found in marine waters worldwide with the exception of the north-eastern Pacific. The adults spend their days resting near the bottom of the ocean along the slopes of seamounts and continental shelves reaching depths over 3,300 feet, 1,000 meters– although they're more commonly found at about half that depth on average. At night, they swim towards the ocean's surface as they follow their prey on their migration cycle. These fish eat smaller fish, crustaceans such as shrimp, and cephalopods such as squid who partake in diel vertical migration.

In turn, the alfonsino has been found in the stomachs of coelacanths which are large, prehistoric-looking, lobe-finned fish. It's likely they're taken by other large fish species and they're also eaten by humans. Alfonsinos are caught in longline and deep trawling fisheries and sold frozen to be cooked in a variety of ways including baking, broiling, and frying. What's more, these fish form schools which might make them an easier target for capture in nets.

If they can avoid capture, alfonsinos can actually live a really, really long time. Based on age prediction using scales– a process somewhat like counting the rings inside a tree– and validated with radiometric dating, one alfonsino was determined to be 69 years old… nice. They aren't even believed to reach reproductive maturity until 4 years of age. At this point they've reached their average adult size and joined up with the rest of the mature individuals of their species.

While adult alfonsinos are demersal, their babies are pelagic; they float and swim in the open ocean. Although they're able to reproduce year-round, they seem to be most active during the summer months. They spawn by releasing their eggs and sperm into the water column at the same time where the eggs become fertilized externally. These float for just over 24 hours before the juveniles hatch. They'll spend their next four years of life living apart from the adults, likely to avoid accidental cannibalism and to have access to different foods.

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