Author: Parr, 1951
Normichthys operosus Parr, 1951
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Normichthys operosus Parr, 1951 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fairly deep and compressed, head about one-third of body length. Snout pointed, premaxillary tusks short, pointing forward; eye large, about equal to snout; upper jaw not reaching beyond hind rim of eye. Gillrakers 27-31 (7-9 on upper limb). Branchiostegal rays 8. Pyloric caeca 5-6, simple or branched. Two to four large and several smaller open pits behind upper part of shoulder girdle, usually at least one pit twice as wide as body scales. Dorsal fin far back on body, with 18-20 finrays; pectoral fins small, with 16-19 finrays, pelvic fins behind midpoint of body and near to anal origin, with 6-7 finrays, anal fin origin only a little behind that of dorsal fin, with 16-18 finrays. Light organs rudimentary or absent. Lateral line without modified enlarged scales, about 80-90 scales in lateral series above it, 14-16 scales above lateral line and 13-14 below at level of dorsal and anal fin origins. Colour: uniform dark. Size: to 16 cm, usually 9-13 cm.
Habitat: mesopelagic to bathypelagic, at about 1,000 m. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: from about the Azores northward to Iceland, the northern and western boundaries apparently following the 1,000 m isotherm for 4 °C and the southern boundary that for 5 °C. Elsewhere, occurring in the upwelling areas off Senegal and Angola.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Quero, 1970: 273, 275.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.