Platytroctegen Lloyd, 1909
Diagnosis: body deep and highly compressed, upper and lower profiles formed of fleshy keels to give leaf-like appearance, but profiles not sawedged; solid tissue along belly at least as deep as caudal peduncle. Snout shorter than eye, no premaxillary tusks. Gillrakers 37 (11 on upper limb). Pyloric caeca 2, small. No pit behind upper part of shoulder girdle. Dorsal fin far back on body, with 23-25 finrays; pectoral fins small, with 26-30 finrays; pelvic fins a little behind midpoint of body, with 6 finrays; anal fin about opposite and equal to dorsal fin, with 22-24 finrays. No light organs. Scales normal, without median ridges; lateral line without enlarged modified scales, about 105 scales in lateral series above it, about 20 above lateral line and 17 below it at level of dorsal and anal fin origins. Colour: uniform dark. Size: to 12 cm.
Habitat: bathypelagic, in oxygen-poor waters (at least in Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean). Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: single specimen from stomach of cod caught in Denmark Strait (but this record questionable). Elsewhere, Arabian Gulf and Bay of Bengal.
Species 1.
Recent revisions: Parr (1960), Sazonov (1976)
Species of this genus in the program:
Platytroctegen mirus