Sternoptyx diaphana
No common name
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Stomiiformes
Sternoptychidae (Marine Hatchetfishes)
Sternoptyx
Sternoptyx diaphana
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
Short and deep bodied, with a small, vertical mouth and laterally directed, nontubular eyes. Jaws have short teeth. Gill rakers on first arch number six to eight. Branchiostegal rays number 6, with 3 on epihyal. Preoperculum has single ventrally directed spine. Dorsal blade is derived from one supraneural and has serrated anterior projection. Abdominal keel is well defined. Post-abdominal spines are well developed. Pectoral fin rays number 10 or 11. Dorsal fin is shorter than dorsal blade and has 9 to 11 rays. Dorsal adipose fin has long base. Anal fin rays number 13 to 15. Anterior anal radial is elongate and bears external spine. ORB is unpigmented and ventral to eye. BR number 3, and OP number 3. IP number 5, PV number 10, and VAV number 3. OA are in two groups of 1 and 3 photophores. VAV and AC are distinctly separated. First AC photophore is nearer to remainder of group than to midline of body. Vertebrae number 29 or 30.
Color is dark dorsally and silvery on flank.
Distribution
Off the eastern seaboard of North America from south of 45°N to the Straits of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and off Brazil.
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to temperate seas between 300 and 1,100 m. Most abundant between 700 and 1,000 m.
Biology
Food consists of copepods, ostracods, euphausiids, amphipods, and fishes.
Maximum known size is 46 mm SL in the Gulf of Mexico.
Life span appears to be slightly over one year.
Oceanic and non-vertical migrant (Ref. 4739). Mesopelagic at 275-1200 m (Ref. 58302). Commonly found in 500-800 m both day and night (Ref. 4054). Possibly a cyclic feeder of copepods, ostracods, euphausiids, amphipods, fishes and other taxa (Ref. 4739). Adult photophore complement acquired at 11-13 mm SL (Ref. 4739). Lipid content 1.4 % in fresh body weight and wax ester is 4.2 % in total lipids (Ref. 9193).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-07-15. Resilience: Medium (Assuming tmax>3).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Schultz 1964
Bright and Pequegnat 1969
Baird 1971
Baird 1986
Rass 1971
Badcock and Baird 1980
Murdy et al. 1983
Badcock 1984b
Howell and Krueger 1987
Weitzman, S.H. (1986) Sternoptychidae. p. 253-259. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Quéro, J.-C., J.C. Njock and M.M. de la Hoz (1990) Sternoptychidae. p. 275-282. 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.
Badcock, J. (1984) Sternoptychidae. p. 302-317. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. volume 1. UNESCO, Paris.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Hopkins, T.L. and R.C. Baird (1985) Feeding ecology of four hatchetfishes (Sternoptychidae) in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Bull. Mar. Sci. 36(2):260-277.
Weitkamp, D.E. and R.D. Sullivan (2003) Gas bubble disease in resident fish of the lower Clark Fork River. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 132(5):865-876.
Figueiredo, J.L., A.P.D. Santos, N. Yamaguti, R.A. Bernardes and C.L. Del Bianco Rossi-Wongtschowski (2002) Peixes da zona econômica exclusiva da Região Sudeste-Sul do Brasil: Levantamento com Rede de Meia-Água. São-Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo; Imprensa Oficial do Estado, 242 p.
Hopkins, T.L. and R.C. Baird (1973) Diet of the hatchetfish Sternoptyx diaphana. Mar. Biol. 21:34-46.
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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