Author: (Ege, 1930)
Lestidiops affinis (Ege, 1930)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Lestidiops affinis (Ege, 1930) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate, head about 5 1/2-6 times in SL; snout distinctly less than half head length. Dorsal fin short, a little behind midpoint of body, with 8-10 finrays; a short adipose dorsal fin near tail; pectoral finrays 10-12; pelvic fins distinctly before dorsal fin origin, with 9 finrays; anal fin far back, with 27-29 finrays and an adipose fin in front as far as anus, which is distinctly before dorsal fin origin. Body naked except for lateral line scales. Vertebrae 75-83. Colour: light, with dark dorsal band formed of 2-5 lines of stellate melanophores (but not in contact with Iateral line). Size: known to 11.2 cm.
Habitat: epi- to bathypelagic, adults and adolescents at 200-2,000 m (mainly 300-600 m), larval and juvenile stages in upper 200 m. Food: carnivorous, mainly planktonic crustaceans. Reproduction: throughout year in tropical and subtropical Atlantic.
Distribution: to about 51° N, mainly in warm and rarely in temperate waters; not in Mediterranean. Elsewhere, southward into tropical waters, to about 25° S (April) in eastem Atlantic and 35° S (February) in western Atlantic.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ege, 1930: 81-89 | Rofen, 1966: 327-330.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.