Author: Rafinesque, 1810
Gonostoma denudatum Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1810
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Gonostoma denudatum Rafinesque, 1810 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body moderately elongate. Pseudobranch present, with 6-7 filaments; gillrakers 3 + 7 + 5 (6), total 15-16; branchiostegal rays 14. Dorsal finrays 14-15, behind midpoint of body, followed by a small adipose fin; pectoral finrays 11 (12); pelvic finrays 8; anal finrays 28-30 (21), anal fin origin a little in advance of dorsal fin origin. Swimbladder capacious. Vertebrae 39. Photophores (adult): SO 1, ORB 1, OP 3, BR 9 (10), IV 6 + 10, VAV 5 (6), AC (19) 20, OA 13; 14-15 AC over anal fin, 3-4 between last anal and first procurrent rays; VAV 4 over anus; last OA over VAV 3; 1 supra-caudal and 2 infra-caudal glands; no glandular masses associated with SO, ORB or OA. Colour: back dark, flanks silver, a distinctive dark gular pigment patch; finrays speckled. Size: to about 140 mm SL.
Habitat: mesopelagic, usually associated with continental and island slopes, juveniles and adults at 400-700 m by day, 100-200 m by night; diel vertical migrations. Food: no data. Reproduction: dioecious- photophores develop in fishes over 18-35 mm SL.
Distribution: temperate and subtropical Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Sanzo, 1912: 1-23, pl. 1;1931: 62 | Jespersen and Tåning, 1926: 4, fig. 1.
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1925: 159, pl. XIII (fig. 12).