Cetostoma Zugmayer, 1914
Diagnosis: vomerine tooth plate flat. Free gill arches 4, slit behind 4th arch reduced to tubular hole behind angle; separate tooth plates instead of gill rakers; copular tooth plates 3. Dorsal finrays 29-37; anal finrays 26-34. Numerous anal lappets, joined basally, about 1 per finray, over anal base. Lateral line pores 16-18, without flaps; lateral line scales flat, without dorsal and ventral points. Cavernous tissue only anterior to anus. Vertebrae 47-53. Colour: dark brown to black body with reddish-orange head and reddish fin margins. Size: to 246 mm SL.
Habitat: oceanic waters, bathypelagic, to at least 1500 m; smaller specimens mesopelagic, 150 m (nocturnal). Food: decapods and euphausiids (Herring, 1976). Reproduction: all examined specimens more than 90 mm SL are females (Paxton, 1989), only confirmed male less than 50 mm SL.
Distribution: Uncommon. In the area to 50° N. Elsewhere, all oceans between about 50° N and 40° S.
Species 1.
Species of this genus in the program:
Cetostoma regani