Argyropelecus lychnus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Sternoptychidae (Marine Hatchetfishes)
Argyropelecus
Argyropelecus lychnus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Body shape: short and / or deep. Branchiostegal rays: 10 (Ref. 35838). Lower preopercular spine downward and curved forward, upper preopercular spine curved outward. Two postabdominal spines directed ventrally (Ref. 37473). Striking features: light organs.
Distribution
Western Pacific: Papua New Guinea (Ref. 6993) and New Zealand (Ref. 5755). Eastern Pacific: southern British Columbia, Canada to California, USA and farther south (Ref. 2850).
Habitat Associations
Marine. bathypelagic. depth range 150-700 m.
Biology
Copepods have been found in the food items consumed by this species (Ref. 6885). Oviparous, with planktonic eggs and larvae (Ref. 35838). Minimum depth is from Ref. 82347.
Max length: 7.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous (Ref. 35838).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-07-16. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Pauly, D., R. Froese and J.S. Albert (1998) The BRAINS table. p. 195-198. In R. Froese and D. Pauly (eds.) FishBase 98: concepts, design and data sources. ICLARM, Manila, Philippines. 298 p.
Watson, W. (1996) Sternoptychidae: hatchetfishes. p. 268-283. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 1505 p.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
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