Author: (Brauer, 1902)
Scopelarchus analis (Brauer, 1902)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Scopelarchus analis (Brauer, 1902) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 7-9; anal finrays 21-26, pectoral finrays 18-22 the latter reaching to or slightly beyond pelvic fin insertion but not reaching anal fin origin. Scales in lateral line 45-50. Vertebrae 44-49. Colour: in alcohol, yellow-brown with small to large, brown to black melanophores. Pigment limited to subequal or equal stripes above and below lateral line; dorsally scale pockets edged with pigment; pigment (pectoral fins limited to finray bases or present as scattered, separate melanophores over surface of fin. Size: to 126.3 mm SL.
Habitat: oceanic, mesopelagic; most adults taken in hauls to depths in excess of 500 m, others (at night) between 275 and O m. Larvae frequently captured in hauls restricted to the upper 100 m, throughout the year in all parts of the range. Food: adults prey on other midwater fishes.
Distribution: widespread in southern oceanic area, northward to 44° 01' N; absent in Mediterranean. Elsewhere, tropical and subtropical regions of all oceans.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1967: 83, fig. 93.