Author: Koefoed, 1952
Melanostigma atlanticum Koefoed, 1952
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Melanostigma atlanticum Koefoed, 1952 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body at anal origin fairly elongate, its depth 8-10% TL, naked, covered by mucus-coated loose skin. Head 12-15% TL; supratemporal commissure interrupted, terminal temporal pore absent. Pectoral fin 4-5% TL, with 6-8 (9) finrays; pelvic fins absent; preanal distance 28-32% TL. Colour: upper parts of body purplish-grey, sides marbled with same colour, becoming more intense and almost black towards tip of tail; snout, nostrils and chin dark; inside of mouth, gill openings, anus, also peritoneum, black. Size: to 15 cm, usually 7-11 cm.
Habitat: bathypelagic in midwater over continental slope at mostly 400-1,000 m. Food: copepods, ostracods, euphausids. Reproduction: benthic, spawning in July September, eggs few (about 30), 3.5 mm diameter.
Distribution: off western coast of Scotland and in Mediterranean (Gulf of Genoa; also off Spain—Matallanas, 1975). Elsewhere, Atlantic coast of north-western Africa (Golovan, 1978), also western North Atlantic (Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.