Author: Shaw, 1791
Stylephorus chordatus Shaw, 1791
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Stylephorus chordatus Shaw, 1791 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: eyes tubular, directed rostrad, mouth very small, capable of great protrusion, maxillae as well as premaxillae provided with marked ascending process. D 110-122; A 16-17; P 10-11; dorsal fin extending from occiput nearly to caudal fin base; lower two caudal finrays enormously elongate and filamentous, reaching or exceeding a length twice the SL; upper caudal finrays much shorter, directed obliquely dorsad; a single, filamentous, fragile pelvic finray. Vertebrae 50-53. Colour: body silvery, head dark violet, eye silvery. Size: to more than 8 cm including tail (315% SL).
Habitat: mesopelagic; remains in vertical position in the water column; probably migrates over 200-300 m vertical distance each day-night cycle. Food: copepods. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: not yet been taken within the area but at just south of the boundary (27° N, 18° W). Elsewhere, tropical-subtropical in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans (most records from equatorial waters in each of the three oceans).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Regan, 1924: 195, fig. 1 (postlarval specimen).
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.