Author: (Bleeker, 1856)
Diaphus dumerilii (Bleeker, 1856)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diaphus dumerilii (Bleeker, 1856) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: equatorial population: dorsal finrays 14 (15); anal finrays 15 (16); pectoral finrays 12 (10-13). Gillrakers 6 (rarely 5 or 7) + 1 + 14 (13-15), total 21 (20-22, rarely 23). AO 7 (6-8) + 5 (4-6), total 12 (11-13). Western South Atlantic population: dorsal finrays 14 (13-15); anal finrays 15 (14-16); pectoral finrays 12 (11-13). Gillrakers 7 (8, rarely 6) + 1 + 17 (I6-18), total 25 (24-27, rarely 23). AO 7 (6-8) + 5 (6), total 12 (11-13). Eastern South Atlantic population (18°-23°S): dorsal finrays 14 (15); anal finrays 14 (15); pectoral finrays 11-12. Gillrakers 8 (7-9) + 1 + 16 (17, rarely 15), total 25-26 (rarely 23 or 27). AO 6 (7) + 5 (4-6), total 11 (12). Dn in adult males larger than in females. Size: central Atlantic to 65 mm; western South Atlantic to 87 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Bermuda: day at 600 m; night at 50-100 m. Generally: day at 225-750 m (maximum abundance at 450-500 m); nyctoepipelagic at the surface and down to 125 m (maximum abundance at 30 m). Food: no data. Reproduction: sexually mature from about 47 mm.
Distribution: Atlantic: tropical pattern (holotropical subpattern); a number of interbreeding populations in tropical waters south of about 20° N, but with expatriate extensions to 51° N and 45° S in western boundary currents, and isolates north to off south-west Ireland; apparently absent in upwelled waters off Cape Verde and over the minimum region off Brazil. Despite the type locality and several records from the Indo-Pacific, the species is probably rare or even absent from this region.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.