Author: Vaillant, 1888
Gonostoma bathyphilum Vaillant, 1888
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Sigmops bathyphilus (Vaillant, 1884) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body fairly elongate. Pseudobranch absent; total gillrakers 24-28, 5-6 on hypobranchial; branchiostegal rays (12) 13. Dorsal finrays 11-15 followed by a small adipose fin; pectoral finrays 11-14; pelvic finrays 8 (7-9); anal finrays 22-25 (26), its origin at the level of dorsal fin origin. Swimbladder regressed (adult). Vertebrae 38-39 (37-40). Photophores (adult, sometimes obsolete): SO 1, ORB 1, OP 3, BR 9-10 (11), IV (2) 3 + 9 (8-10) total 11-13, VAV 45, OA 1415 (16), irregularly arranged, majority close to midline, last over anterior AC; AC 18-21, 15-16 over anal fin, none greatly elevated, 3-4 (5) between last anal and first procurrent ray. Anus between VAV 3 and 4.1-2 supra-caudal and I infra-caudal glands; secondary photophores absent; white glandular mass just posterior to SO and similar masses associated with ORB and in a skin fold above upper jaw posteriorly. Colour: black. Size: male to 150 mm, female to 200 mm SL.
Habitat: bathypelagic, juveniles and adults at 700-2,700 m with marked stratification of size with depth, post-larvae near surface; no diel vertical migrations. Food: no data. Reproduction: protandrous, sex reversal at about 50-100 mm SL; some males supermales, apparently not undergoing sex reversal and are principal spawners, ripe at 100+ mm SL; females first spawning at about 110 mm SL; males macrosmatic, females microsmatic; initial photophore development at about 11 mm SL.
Distribution: temperate; in Clofnam area 60° N-30° N, northern record 65° 30' N, 30° 30' W, absent in Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Holt and Byrne, 1907: 195, fig. 2 | Zugmayer, 1911, pl. 2 (fig. 1) | Jespersen and Tåning, 1919: 221 | Grey, 1964: 182.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.