| Grammatostomias flagellibarba | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Stomiiformes |
| Family: | Stomiidae |
| Genus: | Grammatostomias |
| Species: | G. flagellibarba |
| Binomial name | |
| Grammatostomias flagellibarba | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Lamprotoxus phanobrochusRegan & Trewavas, 1930 | |
Grammatostomias flagellibarba is a species of barbeled dragonfish. They live at depths of up to 1,500 m (5,000 ft) below the surface and usually measure up to 15.2 cm (6 in) in length. [2]
The type specimen was caught in a shrimp trawl by the Helga on 12 November 1909 at 51° 20' N, 11° 56' W, southwest of Ireland. They were trawling over bottom 736 fathoms (4416 ft) deep, but "the net never touched bottom, and probably did not go deeper than 700 fathoms" (4200 ft). [3]
It is black and possesses a chin barbel that is about six times as long as the body, a large photophore behind and just below each eye, and two rows of very small photophores on each side of the body. [3]
It is found in the North Atlantic, specifically off southern Ireland and in the Bay of Biscay. [4]
Stomiiformes is an order of deep-sea ray-finned fishes of very diverse morphology. It includes, for example, dragonfishes, lightfishes, loosejaws, marine hatchetfishes and viperfishes. The order contains 4 families with more than 50 genera and at least 410 species. As usual for deep-sea fishes, there are few common names for species of the order, but the Stomiiformes as a whole are often called dragonfishes and allies or simply stomiiforms.
Bottom trawling is trawling along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towing a net at the very bottom of the ocean and demersal trawling is towing a net just above the benthic zone. Bottom trawling can be contrasted with midwater trawling, where a net is towed higher in the water column. Midwater trawling catches pelagic fish such as anchovies, and mackerel, whereas bottom trawling targets both bottom-living fish (groundfish) and semi-pelagic species such as cod, squid, shrimp, and rockfish.
Lanternfishes are small mesopelagic fish of the large family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, the Myctophidae are represented by 246 species in 33 genera, and are found in oceans worldwide. Lanternfishes are aptly named after their conspicuous use of bioluminescence. Their sister family, the Neoscopelidae, are much fewer in number but superficially very similar; at least one neoscopelid shares the common name 'lanternfish': the large-scaled lantern fish, Neoscopelus macrolepidotus.
The Pacific viperfish, Chauliodus macouni, is a predatory fish that lives in the bathyal zone or bathypelgic, ranging from 1000m-4000m and having an average temperature of 4 degrees Celsius. However, the pacific viperfish has been found in the mesopelagic region, above the bathypelagic. In daytime it can be found from 200–5000 m below the ocean surface. At night it swims up into shallower depths of less than 200m where food is more plentiful. Pacific viperfish mainly feed on fish, but they will go after crustaceans, plankton, shrimp, small fish and occasionally will catch a larger fish. The main fish they feed on are myctophids, or otherwise known as lanternfish. The pacific viperfish is one of the nine different species that belong to the genus Chauliodus or Viperfish. The pacific viperfish tend to be the largest of the species, typically reaching lengths of up to 1 foot and are considered an example of deep-sea gigantism.
The deep sea or deep layer is the lowest layer in the ocean, existing below the thermocline and above the seabed, at a depth of 1000 fathoms or more. Little or no light penetrates this part of the ocean, and most of the organisms that live there rely for subsistence on falling organic matter produced in the photic zone. For this reason, scientists once assumed that life would be sparse in the deep ocean, but virtually every probe has revealed that, on the contrary, life is abundant in the deep ocean.
From the time of Pliny until the late nineteenth century...humans believed there was no life in the deep. It took a historic expedition in the ship Challenger between 1872 and 1876 to prove Pliny wrong; its deep-sea dredges and trawls brought up living things from all depths that could be reached. Yet even in the twentieth century scientists continued to imagine that life at great depth was insubstantial, or somehow inconsequential. The eternal dark, the almost inconceivable pressure, and the extreme cold that exist below one thousand meters were, they thought, so forbidding as to have all but extinguished life. The reverse is in fact true....(Below 200 meters) lies the largest habitat on earth.
Stomiidae is a family of deep-sea ray-finned fish, including the barbeled dragonfishes. They are quite small, usually around 15 cm, up to 26 cm. These fish are apex predators and have enormous jaws filled with fang-like teeth. They are also able to hinge the neurocranium and upper-jaw system, which leads to the opening of the jaw to more than 100 degrees. This ability allows them to consume extremely large prey, often 50% greater than their standard length.
Malacosteus niger is a species of fish in the family Stomiidae, the barbeled dragonfishes. It is known by the common names northern stoplight loosejaw, lightless loosejaw, black loosejaw, and black hinged-head. It lives in oceans around the world from tropical to subarctic waters where it feeds primarily on zooplankton, but is also known to consume piscivores. Its unique visual and bioluminescence permit it to see the red light produced by its photophores which most other species cannot perceive, thus making M. niger an apex predator in its ecosystem.
Idiacanthus atlanticus, the black dragon, is a barbeled dragonfish of the family Stomiidae, found circumglobally in southern subtropical and temperate oceans between latitudes 25°S and 60°S, at depths down to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). The species is sexually dimorphic: females are black with six stripes; males are brown, and lack the females' canine teeth, pelvic fins and barbel. Females are believed to make a diel vertical migration from deeper than 500 metres (1,600 ft) by day to surface waters at night, whereas males do not migrate, remaining below 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) at all times.
The scaly dragonfish or boa dragonfish, is a medium-sized abyssal barbeled dragonfish of the family Stomiidae. It is found at great depths worldwide in tropical to temperate oceans but is absent from the northern Pacific and northwest Atlantic Oceans.
The barbeled houndshark is a species of ground shark and the only member of the family Leptochariidae. This demersal species is found in the coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Mauritania to Angola, at depths of 10–75 m (33–246 ft). It favors muddy habitats, particularly around river mouths. The barbeled houndshark is characterized by a very slender body, nasal barbels, long furrows at the corners of the mouth, and sexually dimorphic teeth. Its maximum known length is 82 cm (32 in).
The velvet belly lanternshark is a species of dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae. One of the most common deepwater sharks in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the velvet belly is found from Iceland and Norway to Gabon and South Africa at a depth of 20–2,490 m (66–8,169 ft). A small shark generally no more than 45 cm (18 in) long, the velvet belly is so named because its black underside is abruptly distinct from the brown coloration on the rest of its body. The body of this species is fairly stout, with a moderately long snout and tail, and very small gill slits. Like other lanternsharks, the velvet belly is bioluminescent, with light-emitting photophores forming a species-specific pattern over its flanks and abdomen. The ventral photophores are thought to function in counter-illumination, which camouflages the shark against predators and prey. The bioluminescent flank markings may play a role in intraspecific communication.
The Japanese angelshark is a species of angelshark, family Squatinidae, found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean off China, Japan, and Korea. It is a bottom-dwelling shark found in sandy habitats down to 300 m (980 ft) deep. This species has the flattened shape with wing-like pectoral and pelvic fins typical of its family, and grows to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) or more in length. Its two dorsal fins are placed behind the pelvic fins, and a row of large thorns occurs along its dorsal midline. Its upper surface is cryptically patterned, with numerous squarish dark spots on a brown background.
Malacosteus australis, the southern stoplight loosejaw, is a species of barbeled dragonfish. This species is mainly distinguished from Malacosteus niger by a smaller postorbital photophore in both sexes and lower numbers of lateral photophores. It also differs in having somewhat smaller jaws, a fleshy orbit, and several subtle morphological traits. The maximum known length is 253.2 cm. Its specific epithet comes from the Latin austral, meaning "southern". It is known for its red bioluminescence which helps M. australis visualize in the aphotic deep sea.
Eustomias schmidti, more commonly known as the scaleless dragonfish, is one of the many species included in the family of Stomiidae. Despite its small size, the scaleless dragonfish is a dangerous predator in the deep oceanic waters that uses its self-generated light to attract its prey.
Scaleless dragonfish may refer to:
Echiostoma barbatum, the Threadfin dragonfish, is a species of barbeled dragonfish and is the only known species in its genus. It is widespread through tropical to temperate waters in all oceans in mid to deep waters up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). This species grows to a length of 36.8 centimetres (14.5 in) SL.
Idiacanthus is a genus of barbeled dragonfishes, the larvae of which are noted for exhibiting the Stylophthalmine trait.
Astronesthes niger, commonly known as snaggletooth, is a species of small, deep sea fish in the family Stomiidae. It occurs in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean, at depths to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
Peter John Herring is an English marine biologist known for his work on the coloration, camouflage and bioluminescence of animals in the deep sea, and for the textbook The Biology of the Deep Ocean.
Stomias affinis, also known as Gunther's boafish, is a deep-sea mesopelagic fish species in the family Stomiidae. They inhabit the open seas in the equatorial zones of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
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