Diaphus rafinesquii
No common name
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Myctophiformes (Lanternfishes)
Myctophidae (Lanternfishes)
Diaphus
Diaphus rafinesquii
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Moderately slender and compressed; moderately large mouth; dorsal and anal fin bases of about equal length; snout blunt; jaws extend 0.5 to 0.6 times eye diameter beyond posterior orbital margin; maxilla not expanded posteriorly; head 30.5% to 32.5% of SL; operculum truncated posteriorly; gill rakers number 22 to 24; dorsal fin originates over pelvic fin base and has 13 or 14 rays; pectoral fin extends to PO and has 10 or 11 rays; anal fin originates posterior to dorsal fin base and has 13 to 15 rays; Dn rounded and directed anteriorly; Vn elongated, extends along ventral border of eye; So round and surrounded by black pigment; PVO1, PVO2, and PO1 in straight line; PLO closer to pectoral fin base than to lateral line; five PO present, PO4 elevated; VLO midway between lateral line and pelvic fin base; five VO present, VO2, VO3, and VO5 progressively elevated; SAO form straight to nearly straight line; Pol about its diameter below lateral line; AOa number five to seven, first and last two elevated; AOp number three to five and are behind anal fin base; four Prc form ascending arc; large luminous scale at PLO
Distribution
Nova Scotia to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in the western Atlantic
Habitat Associations
Subtropical to temperate waters of the North Atlantic; daytime depths range from 400 to 750 m, and nighttime depths range from 40 to 200 m for smaller specimens, and from 300 to 600 m for larger specimens
Biology
Maximum known size is 90 mm SL
Maturity is reached at about 65 mm SL
High-oceanic, found between 325-750 m during daytime (Ref. 4479). At night, a two layer system occurs, with adults found at 300-600 m and juveniles at 40-200 m (Ref. 4479).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Nafpaktitis 1968
Nafpaktitis et al. 1977
Hulley 1984b
Gartner et al. 1987
Hulley, P.A. (1990) Myctophidae. p. 398-467. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI; Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Costa, F. (1991) Atlante dei pesci dei mari italiani. Gruppo Ugo Mursia Editore S.p.A. Milano, Italy. 438 p.
Goren, M. and B.S. Galil (2015) A checklist of the deep sea fishes of the Levant Sea, Mediterranean Sea. Zootaxa 3994(4):507-530. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3994.4.2
Badouvas, N., S. Somarakis and K. Tsagarakis (2022) Length-weight relations of 16 mesopelagic fishes (Actinopterygii: Myctophiformes and Stomiiformes) from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Acta Ichthyol. Pisc. 52(4):279-283. DOI: 10.3897/aiep.52.97577
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