Untitled - Alaska Resources Library

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Tarletonbeania taylori Mead, 1953. Northern Blue Lanternfish or Taillight Lanternfish. To 8.2 cm (3.2 in) SL
(Sassa et al. 2002). Northern Honshu, Japan (Wisner 1976, Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984) to southeastern
Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean south of Alaska (Shinohara et al. 1994) and west of British Columbia
(Peden et al. 1985). Surface to mesopelagic (min.: Wisner 1976; max.: Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Few
records of depth have been reported; to at least 300–400 m (984–1,312 ft) according to Watanabe et al.
(1999). Geographic range and depths are difficult to determine because T. taylori and T. crenularis were
for some time considered to be synonymous.
Triphoturus mexicanus (Gilbert, 1890). Mexican Lampfish. To about 8 cm (3.1 in) SL (Savinykh 1999).
British Columbia (Gillespie 1993) to off southern Mexico (Rodriguez-Graña et al. 2004), including
Gulf of California (De La Cruz-Agüero and Galván-Magaña 1992). At depths of 20–1,130 m (66–
3,707 ft) (min.: LACM 6524.000; max.: LACM 39275.017). Triphoturus oculeus has been considered
to be synonymous with Triphoturus mexicanus Gilbert, 1890. However, on the basis of both DNA and
larvae characters Rodriquez-Graña et al. (2004) separated the two species. Triphoturus oculeus is found
from 13°N to 35°S.
Triphoturus nigrescens (Brauer, 1904). To 4 cm (1.6 in) SL (Wisner 1976). Pacific and Indian oceans; Japan
(Nakabo in Nakabo 2002); northern California (Berry and Perkins 1966) to southern Baja California
(23°19'N, 112°02'W; De La Cruz-Agüero and Galván-Magaña 1992). At depths of 24–1,000 m (79–
3,280 ft) (min.: Wisner 1976; max.: Nakabo in Nakabo 2002).
Order Lampridiformes
Family Lamprididae — Opahs
Lampris guttatus (Brünnich, 1788). Moonfish, Opah, or Spotted Opah. To 183 cm (72 in) TL (Eschmeyer
and Herald 1983). Circumglobal in temperate to tropical waters; Japan to Gulf of Alaska (Mecklenburg
et al. 2002) to Chile (Pequeño 1989) and Gulf of California (Miller and Lea 1972). Pelagic, oceanic, near
surface to 512 m (1,680 ft; Miller and Lea 1972). Nelson et al. (2004) retain Opah for the vernacular.
However, there are two species of opah and it is appropriate to call the one in our area the Spotted Opah,
as opposed to Lampris immaculatus Gilchrist, 1904, the Southern Opah. Lampris regius (Bonnaterre,
1788) is a synonym of L. guttatus. Mecklenburg et al. (2002:258) give the history of the names.
Family Lophotidae — Crestfishes
Lophotus capellei Temminck & Schlegel, 1845. North Pacific Crestfish. To at least 125.2 cm (49.3 in) TL (M.
Craig, pers. comm. to M. L.). Well offshore, to 610 km (380 mi) off Point Arena, northern California
and near coast to Morro Bay, central California (Craig et al. 2004). Surface to at least 92 m (300 ft; Fitch
and Lavenberg 1968) and probably to greater depths. Previously regarded as belonging to the nearly
worldwide species Lophotus lacepede, the North Pacific form was recently shown (Craig et al. 2004) to
be a different species.
Family Trachipteridae — Ribbonfishes
Desmodema lorum Rosenblatt & Butler, 1977. Whiptail Ribbonfish. To 114 cm (44.9 in) TL (Eschmeyer
and Herald 1983). Temperate waters of North Pacific; Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984), southern
Kuril Islands (Parin et al. 1995); central California to south of Cabo San Lucas, southern Baja California
(Rosenblatt and Butler 1977). Epipelagic (Charter and Moser in Moser 1996) to mesopelagic (Rosenblatt
and Butler 1977); collected in nets towed as deep as 500 m (1,640 ft) to 200 m (656 ft; Parin et al.
1995).