Northern lampfish

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Northern lampfish
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Myctophiformes
Family: Myctophidae
Genus: Stenobrachius
Species:
S. leucopsarus
Binomial name
Stenobrachius leucopsarus

The northern lampfish (Stenobrachius leucopsarus), also known as smallfin lanternfish, [1] is a small oceanic fish in the family Myctophidae. First described by husband and wife ichthyologists Carl H. and Rosa Smith Eigenmann in 1890, [2] it is named for the numerous small round photophores that line the ventral surface of its head and body.

Contents

Description

S. Leucopsarus are a blunt-nosed, relatively large-mouthed fish with small teeth and large eyes, [3] . Their mouths have well-developed premaxillary, palatine, pterygoid and dentary teeth, as well as well-developed pharyngeal teeth and toothed gill rakers [4] . S. Leucopsarus have gray to dark greenish blue pigmentation on its dorsal surface and are paler ventrally, with black on its fins and operculum. [2] They also have gut melanophores with lateral spots at the pectoral fin base, midgut, and anus. Their fins consist of a dorsal fin near the midbody, an adipose fin, abdominal pelvic fins, and an anal fin below the dorsal fin [5] . It has large scales that rub off easily. Adults can reach 13 centimeters (5 in) in length.

S. Leucopsarus appears similar to the Diphus theta but can be distinguished from them due to their lack of pigmentation at the caudal base and the number of postanal ventral melanophores present in both the larval and adult form [5] .  

Lateral Cutaway of S.leucopsarus gill arches and rakers S. Leucopsarus.png
Lateral Cutaway of S.leucopsarus gill arches and rakers

Taxonomy

S. Leucopsarus are members of the Myctophidae family, which are commonly referred to as Lanternfish. Myctophids are among the most abundant midwater fish, making up 60% of all deep sea biomass [7] . This family of fish are defined by their blunted mouths, large eyes, and the presence of photophores along their head and the ventral surface of their body [5] [8] .

Various Life Stages of a S. Leucopsarus Life Stages of S. leucopsarus.png
Various Life Stages of a S. Leucopsarus


Life History

S. Leucopsarus has an average lifespan of five years, but some individuals have lived up to eight. They reach sexual maturity around the age of four [10] . Spawning season for the larvae is between the months of December through March, with the highest number of larvae being measured in January [11] . Like most fish, it is oviparous [2]

Weekly survey mean concentrations of larval northern lampfish Distribution of Larvae by Month.png
Weekly survey mean concentrations of larval northern lampfish






Distribution

Found in the Pacific Ocean from Japan and Baja California to the Bering Sea, [3] it is the most common species of lanternfish in the northwestern Pacific, [12] and one of the most abundant larval fish in the California Current. [13] Like all lanternfish, this is a deep sea species; it spends the day in the ocean's deeper bathypelagic and mesopelagic zones and ascends to or near the ocean's surface during the night. [3] [12] It is a cool-water fish. [14]

The S. Leucopsarus are the most abundant of the myctophids, having an estimated biomass of 21 million tonnes in the Subarctic Pacific. The species is most abundantly found in the Bering Sea [15]

Distribution Map of Adult S. Leucopsarus Stenobrachius leucopsarus Distribution.png
Distribution Map of Adult S. Leucopsarus

Migration Pattern

S. Leucopsarus  are made up of both migratory and nonmigratory individuals. Migratory individuals migrate at night from the mesopelagic depths to the near surface layers of the Bering Sea in order to feed. The migratory individuals were found in the upper 50m of Ocean off Oregon, 60m in the southern Bering Sea, and as shallow as 20m. Nonmigratory S.Leucopsarus remains in deep waters during all parts of the day [16] .

Diet

S. Leucopsarus diet primarily consists of ostracods, E.pacifica, and a variety of large copepods. They have also been found to eat fish eggs, zoea, amphipods, and smaller copepods in smaller quantities. Migratory and nonmigratory populations feed both during the daytime and the nighttime, but migratory populations are reported to have fuller stomachs at night than their nonmigratory counterparts [17] . They are eaten by numerous predators, including fish such as salmon and tuna and birds such as the red-legged kittiwake.

Conservation Status

Although myctophids are one of the most abundant groups of teleost, they are predicted to face distributional changes as a result of climate change. It is theorized that the lanternfish will migrate towards cooler climates as temperatures rise, which will negatively impact the trophic levels of the surrounding environment [18] . Even though lanternfish are abundant and currently not endangered, they are still impacted by human pollution.. Multiple studies have found plastic pieces in the stomachs of lanternfish, which negatively impacts digestion of the individuals, as well as contributing to the bio-accumulation of plastic in the ecosystem [19] .

References

  1. ↑ Froese, R.; Pauly, D., eds. (2014). "Stenobrachius leucopsarus (Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1890) Northern lampfish". FishBase. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Froese, R.; Pauly, D., eds. (2014). "Common names of Stenobrachius leucopsarus". FishBase. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Eschmeyer, William N.; Herald, Olivia Walker; Mammann, Howard; Gnagy, John (1983). A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes: North America. New York, NY, US: Houghton Mifflin. p. 94. ISBN   0-395-26873-7.
  4. ↑ "(PDF) The vertical distribution and feeding habits of two common midwater fishes (Leuroglossus stilbius and Stenobrachius leucopsarus) off Santa Barbara". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  5. 1 2 3 Powell, Allyn B.; Kendall, Arthur W. (1991). "Review of Laboratory Guide to the Early Life History Stages of Northeast Pacific Fishes, Arthur W. Kendall, Jr". Copeia. 1991 (1): 262–263. doi:10.2307/1446279. ISSN   0045-8511.
  6. ↑ "(PDF) The vertical distribution and feeding habits of two common midwater fishes (Leuroglossus stilbius and Stenobrachius leucopsarus) off Santa Barbara". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  7. ↑ "Lanternfish - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  8. ↑ "Myctophidae". www.burkemuseum.org. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  9. ↑ Powell, Allyn B.; Matarese, Ann C.; Kendall, Arthur W.; Blood, Deborah M.; Vinter, Beverly M. (1991-02-07). "Laboratory Guide to the Early Life History Stages of Northeast Pacific Fishes". Copeia. 1991 (1): 262. doi:10.2307/1446279. ISSN   0045-8511.
  10. ↑ Smoker, William; Pearcy, William G. (July 1970). "Growth and Reproduction of the Lanternfish Stenobrachius leucopsarus". Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. 27 (7): 1265–1275. doi:10.1139/f70-148. ISSN   0015-296X.
  11. 1 2 3 "Northern lampfish - Stenobrachius leucopsarus" (PDF). California State Water Resources Control Board (.gov). Retrieved November 11, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. 1 2 Beamish, Richard James, ed. (1995). Climate Change and Northern Fish Populations. Ottawa, ON, Canada: National Research Council of Canada. p. 170. ISBN   0-660-15780-2.
  13. ↑ Dailey, Murray D.; Reish, Donald J.; Anderson, Jack W., eds. (1993). Ecology of the Southern California Bight: A Synthesis and Interpretation. Berkeley, CA, US: University of California Press. p. 477. ISBN   0-520-07578-1.
  14. ↑ McClatchie, Sam (2014). Regional Fisheries Oceanography of the California Current System: The CalCOFI program. New York, NY, US: Springer Science and Business Media. p. 172. ISBN   978-94-007-7222-9.
  15. ↑ Beamish, R. J; Leask, K. D; Ivanov, O. A; Balanov, A. A; Orlov, A. M; Sinclair, B (1999-03-01). "The ecology, distribution, and abundance of midwater fishes of the Subarctic Pacific gyres". Progress in Oceanography. 43 (2): 399–442. doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(99)00017-8. ISSN   0079-6611.
  16. ↑ "(PDF) The vertical distribution and feeding habits of two common midwater fishes (Leuroglossus stilbius and Stenobrachius leucopsarus) off Santa Barbara". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  17. ↑ Moku, Masatoshi; Kawaguchi, Kouichi; Watanabe, Hikaru; Ohno, Akinori (2000-11-22). "Feeding habits of three dominant myctophid fishes, Diaphus theta, Stenobrachius leucopsarus and S. nannochir, in the subarctic and transitional waters of the western North Pacific". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 207: 129–140. doi:10.3354/meps207129. ISSN   1616-1599.
  18. ↑ Freer, Jennifer J.; Tarling, Geraint A.; Collins, Martin A.; Partridge, Julian C.; Genner, Martin J. (2019). "Predicting future distributions of lanternfish, a significant ecological resource within the Southern Ocean". Diversity and Distributions. 25 (8): 1259–1272. doi:10.1111/ddi.12934. ISSN   1472-4642.
  19. ↑ "Sea Wonder: Lanternfish". National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
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