Author: (Johnson, 1890)
Lampanyctus pusillus (Johnson, 1890)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Lampanyctus pusillus (Johnson, 1890) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 12 (11-13); anal finrays 14-15 (rarely 13); pectoral finrays 14 (13). Gillrakers 3 + 1 + 8 (rarely 9), total 12 (rarely 13). AO 5 (4) + 5 (6), total 10 (rarely 9 or 11). Luminous gland at adipose origin absent. Secondary photophores on head and body and on fins. Minute serial photophores on branchiostegal membrane between branchiostegal rays. Size: to 43 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Mediterranean: day at 500- 1,000 m (maximum abundance at 600-700 m); night at 50-150 m and at 325 m (maximum abundance at 70-100 m). Canaries: day at 483-700 m; night at 25-200 m (juveniles and adults). Bermuda: day at 601-800 m (maximum abundance at 601-650 m); night at 50-200 m (maximum abundance at 51-100 m, with secondary peak at 801-850 m). Size: stratification with depth during the day and to lesser extent at night (Mediterranean). Partial migrants and non-migrants seasonally abundant near Canaries and Bermuda. Food: no data. Reproduction: sexually mature from about 36 mm. Spawning peak late summer-autumn (Mediterranean) and in early spring (Bermuda).
Distribution: Atlantic and Mediterranean: subtropical pattern (bisubtropical subpattern), between 45° and 17° N, with isolates to 60° N and between 19° and 38° S (eastern sector); between 30° and 40° N and between 32° and 40° S (western sector). Elsewhere: Indian Ocean (between 23° and 45° S) and South Pacific (from Australia to South America in the region of the Subtropical Convergence, but with a northern extension to 24° S in the Peru Current).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Sanzo, 1918: 45-49 | Tåning, 1918: 108-112, fig. 42-43 | Legendre, 1934: 363-364, fig. 34 | Tortonese, 1956: 952-954, fig. 819.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 15, 27, fig. 86.