Ceratoscopelus townsendi
Dogtooth Lampfish
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Collection Details
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Myctophiformes (Lanternfishes)
Myctophidae (Lanternfishes)
Ceratoscopelus
Ceratoscopelus townsendi (Dogtooth Lampfish)
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.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated. Adipose fin slender; pectorals long and slender (Ref. 6885). Black with bluish metallic reflections from opercles and scales; dusky on median fins, paired fins unpigmented (Ref. 6885). Branchiostegal rays: 9 (Ref. 31442).
Distribution
Circumglobal. Common south of 35°N. North Pacific: off Japan (Ref. 11721), Hawaii (Ref. 11750), and from off southern British Columbia, Canada to southern California, USA. Western Central Atlantic: Cuba. Southeast Atlantic: Agulhas Current Region (Ref. 41388).
Habitat Associations
Marine. bathypelagic. depth range 100-500 m.
Biology
Bathypelagic at 0-200 m at night, 425-1500 m during day (Ref. 58302). Epipelagic to mesopelagic (Ref. 31442). Depth range is between 300 to 600m during the day, and from 25 to 300 at night (Ref. 54154). Reported to feed on crustaceans (Ref. 6885). Oviparous, with planktonic eggs and larvae (Ref. 31442).
Max length: 18.4 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders. Oviparous (Ref. 31442).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-06-25. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Clemens, W.A. and G.V. Wilby (1961) Fishes of the Pacific coast of Canada. 2nd ed. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada Bull. (68):443 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Collard, S.B. (1970) Forage of some eastern Pacific midwater fishes. Copeia 1970(2):348-354.
Moser, H.G. and E.H. Ahlstrom (1996) Myctophidae: lanternfishes. p. 387-475. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.
Beamish, R.J., K.D. Leask, O.A. Ivanov, A.A. Balanov, A.M. Orlov and B. Sinclair (1999) The ecology, distribution, and abundance of midwater fishes of the Subarctic Pacific gyres. Prog. Oceanog. 43:399-442.
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