Untitled - Alaska Resources Library

Trachipterus altivelis Kner, 1859. King-of-the-Salmon. To 186 cm (73.2 in) TL (Hart 1973:671). Southeastern
Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska (Mecklenburg et al. 2002) to Chile (Eschmeyer and Herald
1983). Near surface to 1,189 m (3,900 ft) (max.: UW 44183, identified by D. E. Stevenson); primarily
mesopelagic as adults (Mecklenburg et al. 2002).
Trachipterus fukuzakii Fitch, 1964. Tapertail Ribbonfish. To 143 cm (56.3 in) TL (Eschmeyer and Herald
1983). Off Purisima Point, central California (M. Nishimoto, pers. comm. to M. L.) to Chile (Miller
and Lea 1972), including Gulf of California (Galván-Magaña et al. 1996). Epipelagic and mesopelagic
(Miller and Lea 1972), as shallow as 5 m (16 ft; LACM 55976.001).
Zu cristatus (Bonelli, 1819). Scalloped Ribbonfish. To 118 cm (46.5 in) TL (Heemstra and Kannemeyer in
Smith and Heemstra 1986). Circumglobal in tropical to warm temperate waters (Moore et al. 2003);
Japan (Hayashi in Nakabo 2002); off Newport Beach, southern California (Miller and Lea 1972) to Chile
(Pequeño 1989) and Islas Galápagos (Miller and Lea 1972). Epi- to mesopelagic, near surface to 700 m
(2,297 ft; Moore et al. 2003).
Family Regalecidae — Oarfishes
Regalecus glesne Ascanius, 1772. Banks Ribbonfish or Oarfish. To 10.7 m (35 ft) TL (Miller and Lea 1972).
Circumglobal in tropical to warm temperate waters (Moore et al. 2003); in eastern Pacific from Topanga
Beach (Santa Monica Bay at approximately 34°02'N, 118°35'W), southern California to Chile (Fitch
and Lavenberg 1968). Primarily epipelagic and mesopelagic, captured in surf zone by hand and by gaff,
driftnet, and gillnets at and near the surface (Fitch and Lavenberg 1968; and several museum records)
and in nonclosing trawl nets fishing as deep as 1,640 m (5,380 ft) (MCZ 16403) over deeper waters.
Family Stylephoridae — Thread-tails or Tube-eyes
Stylephorus chordatus Shaw, 1791. Thread-tail or Tube-eye. To 31 cm (12.2 in) TL (Pietsch in Quéro et al.
1990). Circumglobal in temperate to tropical waters; in eastern Pacific from Yaquina Head, Oregon
(44°45'N; RACE) to offshore San Diego (32°N, 124°W; SIO 88–79). At depths of 200–800 m (656–
2,625 ft) (min.: Moore et al. 2003; max.: Pietsch 1990). Larvae of this species have been reported off
Colombia (Beltrán-León and Rios Herrera 2000). A specimen collected from a net towed at 0–972 m
(0–3,189 ft) in the Atlantic near a seamount (Moore et al. 2003) might not have entered the net near
the maximum depth. Previously described as typically occurring in tropical to subtropical waters, but
recent discoveries in cooler waters (e.g., Moore et al. [2003] and those reported herein) indicate broader
distribution.
Order Ophidiiformes
Family Carapidae — Pearlfishes
Echiodon exsilium Rosenblatt, 1961. Nocturnal Pearlfish. To 14.2 cm (5.6 in) SL (SIO 65-292). Tropical
eastern Pacific (Markle in Nielsen et al. 1999); southern Baja California to Colombia (Beltrán-León
and Rios Herrera 2000), including Islas Galápagos (Grove and Lavenberg 1997). Benthic, at depths of
5–90 m (17–295 ft; Robertson and Allen 2002).
Unidentified pearlfish. Jordan (1921) noted that a pearlfish identified as Fierasfer dubius Putnam, 1874, was
collected “150 miles southwest of Point Loma,” southern California, placing the collection off northern
Baja California. Fierasfer dubius, now Encheliophus dubius, is not known from the Pacific coast of Baja
California. In addition, Jordan described the specimen as “encrusted in mother of pearl” (as occasionally
happens to the commensal pearlfishes), which would have made identification to species problematic.
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