Author: Regan and Trewavas, 1930
Melanostomias macrophotus Regan and Trewavas, 1930
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Melanostomias melanopogon Regan and Trewavas, 1930 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: barbel as short as 4 1/2 times in SL in small specimens, but as much as 3 times in larger ones, its stem black; tip of barbel long and slender, usually pigmented except a narrow proximal band, the outer edges of the flattened wings, and the distal bulb (rarely almost entirely unpigmented except just proximal to distal bulb); distal end rounded or one side tapering to a short point. Dorsal finrays 13-16 (usually 14-16). Photophores in ventral row between pectoral and pelvic fin insertions (PV) 26-29 (usually 27-28). Colour: head and body black; no prominent round white spots on head. Size: to about 23 cm.
Habitat, etc.: see family.
Distribution: off Portugal and Spain; also, south-west of the Azores. Elsewhere, southward from about 21° N to the Cape Verde Is.; Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles and western Atlantic to about 8° N; south-western Atlantic at 28° S, 40° W; also Pacific.