Stoplight loosejaw
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| Malacosteus niger Ayres, 1848 |
The stoplight loosejaw, Malacosteus niger, is a small abyssal fish of the genus Malacosteus, found worldwide in tropical and subtropical oceans, at depths of between 500 and 2,000 m. Its length is between 15 and 20 cm.
The stoplight loosejaw has a blunt, almost vertical, forehead and a huge tooth-filled mouth capable of being greatly distended to swallow prey almost as large as the fish itself. The large eyes are set forward almost to the very front of the head. Each eye has a comma-shaped photophore beneath it that luminesces a deep red, and a circular bright green photophore behind it, evocative of a traffic light (hence the name). Small dorsal and anal fins are set back along the narrow tapering body close to the small tail.
The skin is smooth and scaleless, and the colour is a uniform black.
[edit] References
- Malacosteus niger (TSN 162269). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 18 April 2006.
- "Malacosteus niger". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
