Protoblepharon mccoskeri

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Protoblepharon mccoskeri
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Trachichthyiformes
Family: Anomalopidae
Genus: Protoblepharon
Species:
P. mccoskeri
Binomial name
Protoblepharon mccoskeri

Protoblepharon mccoskeri, the Taiwanese flashlight fish, is a flashlight fish species found in the Northwest Pacific off of Taiwan's east coast. It can be found as deep as 300m. [1] It was first described in 2012 from a single specimen caught near Taiwan. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

The first scientific description of the Taiwanese flashlight fish was authored in 2012 by ichthyologists Hsuan-Ching Ho and G. David Johnson. Its generic name derives from Greek protos, meaning "the first," and blepharon, meaning "eyelid." The species is named mccoskeri after Dr. John E. McCosker, a senior scientist at the California Academy of Sciences. [2] [3]

Description

The Taiwanese flashlight fish has a thick body and relatively small, bulging eyes. Its head has very few scales. It differs from P. rosenblatti, its only congener in that it has a deeper body, shorter snout, smaller light organ, and larger cup under the eye. There are about 260 rows of scales along its body. It is a reddish black color [2] and can reach lengths of up to 30.5 cm. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Protoblepharon mccoskeri". FishBase . December 2016 version.
  2. 1 2 3 Ho, Hsuan-Ching; G.D. Johnson (2012). "Protoblepharon mccoskeri, a new flashlight fish from eastern Taiwan (Teleostei: Anomalopidae)". Zootaxa. 3479 (3479): 77–87. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3479.1.5 . hdl:10088/19165.
  3. ↑ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Family ANOMALOPIDAE Gill 1889 (Flashlightfishes or Lanterneye Fishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 10 October 2025.


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