Neoscopelidae

Neoscopelidae
Large-scaled lanternfish
Neoscopelus macrolepidotus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Myctophiformes
Family: Neoscopelidae
Danilchenko, 1947
Genera

Neoscopelus
Scopelengys
Solivomer

The Neoscopelidae (blackchins or neoscopelids) are a small family of deep-sea fish closely related to the lanternfish. They are found in tropical and subtropical marine waters worldwide.[1]

They can be distinguished from the lanternfish only by a few technical characters, such as the position of the anal fin being far behind that of the dorsal fin. Some species also lack the light-emitting organs (photophores) of the lanternfish. They are typically between 20 and 30 cm (7.9 and 11.8 in) in length.[2] One genus has photophores arranged in a single series along the edge of the tongue and one or two along the ventral surface of the body.

Neoscopelidae currently contains three genera, Neoscopelus, Scopelengys and the monotypic Solivomer (Philippines).[3]

  1. ^ Hulley, P. Alexander (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference FB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Stiassny, Melanie L.J. 1997. Neoscopelidae. Blackchins. Version 01 January 1997 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Neoscopelidae/15173/1997.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/