Author: Cocco, 1838
Diaphus raflnesquei Cocco, 1838
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diaphus rafinesquii (Cocco, 1838) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 13 (rarely 12 or 14); anal finrays 14 (rarely 13 or 15); pectoral finrays 10 (9-11). Gillrakers 7-8 + 1 + 14-15 (rarely 13 or 16), total 22-24 (rarely 21 or 25). AO 6 (rarely 5 or 7) + 4 (rarely 3 or 5), total 10 (rarely 9 or 11). Vn in adult males larger than in adult females. Size: 90 mm (max.).
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Mediterranean: day at 400-675 m (maximum abundance at 500-675 m); nyctoepipelagic at surface and down to 600 m. Canaries: day at 400-500 m; night at 50-200 m (juveniles) and at 300-600 m (adults). Bermuda: day at 451-700 m (maximum abundance at 601-700 m); night at 501-550 m. Size stratification with depth both day and night (Mediterranean). Large specimens apparently do not migrate (Mediterranean, Canaries, Bermuda). Food: no data. Reproduction: sexually mature from about 50 mm. Spawning peak in autumn-winter (Mediterranean, Bermuda).
Distribution: endemic Mediterranean and Atlantic: north temperate pattern (temperate-subtropical subpattern), between 20° and 56° N, but with isolates to 62° N (eastern sector); and in the slope water region, with isolates to 28° N (western sector).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Sanzo, 1918: 17-18 | Tåning, 1918: 83-87, fig. 33 (2-5) (postlarvae, metamorphosis stages) | Tortonese, 1956: 943-944, part., fig. 815.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a:13, 26, fig. 70.