Searsia Parr, 1937
Diagnosis: body moderately elongate and compressed. Snout acute, with a pair of premaxillary tusks pointing straight forward. Gillrakers 27-33 (19-23 on lower limb). Branchiostegal rays 7-8. No pit behind shoulder girdle. Pyloric caeca 4 6, with 9-19 terminal lobes. Dorsal fin far back on body, with 18-21 finrays; pectoral fins very small, with 20-25 finrays; pelvic fins at about midpoint of body, with 7-9 finrays; anal fin origin slightly behind dorsal fin origin, with 17-19 finrays. Light organs present; organ on underside of caudal peduncle (ICO) double; those between midpoint of pectoral fins (THO) and just before pelvic fin bases (MVO) forming transverse bars; no anterior gular organ below tip of lower jaw (GO ant.) and no organ in midline between bases of pectoral fins (JO). No modified lateral line scales, about 85-100 in lateral series, 11-15 above and 11-15 below at origins of dorsal and anal fins. Colour: uniform dark. Size: to 15 cm, usually 9-13 cm.
Habitat: deep mesopelagic (macroplanktonic) at about 450-1,500 m; main concentrations at about 1,000 m in northern parts, or 500-600 m in south; the horizontal range apparently limited by the 400 m isohaline for 35 promille. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: in deepwater northwards to Denmark Strait. Elsewhere, southward to about 3° N, also subtropical western North Atlantic and tropical Indian Ocean and Pacific.
Species 1.
Recent revisions: Parr (1960), Sazonov (1976).
Species of this genus in the program:
Searsia koefoedi