Untitled - Alaska Resources Library

Sternoptyx obscura Garman, 1899. Dusky Hatchetfish. To 4.5 cm (1.8 in) SL (Baird in Smith and Heemstra
1986). Pacific and Indian oceans; Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984), central California to Peru–Chile
border (Baird 1971). Primarily mesopelagic, at depths of 190–1,130 m (623–3,706 ft) (min.: LACM
38817.009; max.: LACM 39275.014).
Sternoptyx pseudobscura Baird, 1971. Highlight Hatchetfish. To 7 cm (2.8 in) SL (Aizawa in Nakabo 2002).
Circumglobal; Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984); British Columbia (Peden 1975) to Chile (Baird 1971).
Primarily mesopelagic, at depths of 156–1,500 m (492–4,920 ft) (min.: LACM 9071.016; Quéro et al. in
Quéro et al. 1990).
Family Phosichthyidae — Lightfishes
The family name is also seen as Photichthyidae. The correct spelling of the type genus for the family is
Phosichthys (Eschmeyer 1998) and most authors now use the spelling Phosichthyidae.
Ichthyococcus elongatus Imai, 1941. Slim Lightfish. To about 13 cm (5.1 in) SL (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984).
Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984) and southern Kuril Islands (Parin et al. 1995) to near Vancouver
Island (Peden and Hughes 1986), British Columbia to southern Baja California (Berry and Perkins
1966). Mesopelagic (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984).
Ichthyococcus irregularis Rechnitzer & Böhlke, 1958. Bulldog Lightfish. To 6.3 cm (2.5 in) SL (SIO 93-300).
Monterey, central California to Colombia, including Islas Galápagos (Rechnitzer and Böhlke 1958).
Mesopelagic and bathypelagic (Watson in Moser 1996).
Vinciguerria lucetia (Garman, 1899). Panama Lightfish. To 6 cm (2.4 in) SL (Savinykh 1999). Larvae found
as far north as off San Francisco, northern California and metamorphosing individuals found as far
north as central California (34°54'W; Ahlstrom and Counts 1958) to northern Chile (Sielfeld et al.
1995), including Gulf of California (De La Cruz-Agüero and Galván-Magaña 1992). Surface (Ahlstrom
and Counts 1958) to at least 400 m (1,312 ft; Lavenberg and Ebeling 1967).
Vinciguerria nimbaria (Jordan & Williams, 1895). Oceanic Lightfish. To about 5.1 cm (2 in) TL (Eschmeyer
and Herald 1983). Circumglobal; Japan (Aizawa in Nakabo 2002); well off northern California (Berry
and Perkins 1966) and off La Jolla, southern California (Ahlstrom and Counts 1958) to Chile (Pequeño
1989). “Very close to surface” noted during daylight hours in equatorial Atlantic Ocean (Marchal and
Lebourges 1996) to 549 m (1,801 ft; Grey 1964).
Vinciguerria poweriae (Cocco, 1838). Highseas Lightfish. To 4.3 cm (1.7 in) SL (McEachran and Fechhelm
1998). Circumglobal; Japan (Aizawa in Nakabo 2002); Vancouver Island, British Columbia (Ahlstrom
and Counts 1958) to Chile (Pequeño 1989). At depths of 50–600 m (164–1,968 ft) or more (Watson in
Moser 1996).
Woodsia nonsuchae (Beebe, 1932). To 12 cm (4.7 in) SL (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984). Pacific and Atlantic;
Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984); southern California (33°54'N, 120°38'W; SIO 97-55). At depths of
530–1,335 m (1,738–4,379 ft; Watson in Moser 1996).
Family Stomiidae — Barbeled Dragonfishes or Dragonfishes
This family includes various forms such as loosejaws, viperfishes, and snaggletooths, and some of those names
are appropriate for the subfamilies.
Aristostomias scintillans (Gilbert, 1915). Shining Loosejaw. To 23 cm (9 in) TL (Fitch and Lavenberg 1968).
Well off British Columbia (50°13'N, 138°26'W; Aron 1960) and Washington (48°13'N; Weinberg et
al. 2002) to southern Baja California (23°17'N, 120°33'W; SIO 66-156); also near equator (7°N; SIO
88-170). Reported from Bering Sea, probably in error (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Primarily mesopelagic,
recorded from depths of 29–1,194 m (95–3,940 ft) (min.: Aron 1960; max.: Lauth 1999).
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