Author: Gilchrist, 1908
Eustomias filifer Gilchrist, 1908
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Eustomias filifer (Gilchrist, 1906) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: barbel 5-10 times in SL, its stem pigmented to terminal bulb, incompletely in small specimens; terminal bulb single, ovoid, without filaments, a pair of filaments arising from stem just before bulb. A groove in belly about as long as barbel. Pectoral finrays 11-16; pelvic finrays 8. Photophores of lateral row evenly spaced, not in pairs, 25-28 in ventral row between pectoral and pelvic fin insertions (PV). Colour: head and body black; an irregular row of round, white spots present on sides of body in larger specimens, resembling photophores. Size: to 13.5 cm.
Habitat, etc.: see family.
Distribution: only from off Gibraltar. Elsewhere, across the North Atlantic from about 30° to 68° W between about 23° and 28° N (to 35° N near 30° W); Lesser Antilles; western South Atlantic between about 8° and 11° S; Indian and Pacific Oceans.