Author: Post and Quero, 1981
Diretmoides parini Post and Quero, 1981
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diretmichthys parini (Post and Quéro, 1981) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: metamorphosis from juvenile to adult stages. Juveniles: cephalic and preopercular spines, dorsal spines directed caudad, ventral spines directed rostrad. Adults and adolescents from about 20 mm SL: no spines on head; body distinctly longer than high. D 26-29 (27-28); A 20-23 (21-22); P 17-20 (18-19). Vertebrae 29-31 (30). Gillrakers 16- 20 (17-19). Colour: silvery with horseshoe-shaped dark band on sides in adolescents, black in adults. Size: to 37 cm SL.
Habitat: mesopelagic, juveniles from near the surface to about 200 m depth, adults mainly below 500 m depth. Behaviour: see family. Food: see family. Reproduction: all the year round in subtropical and tropical waters.
Distribution: antitropical bipolar in the eastern Atlantic, most northern and only records inside the area from off Morocco and Madeira; most southern record from about 40° S in the western Atlantic. Elsewhere, in the western Atlantic, also in tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea; further records from the Indian Ocean, the north-western Pacific off Japan, the Central Pacific, the China Sea and off eastern Australia.