Author: Zugmayer, 1911
Anotopterus pharao Zugmayer, 1911
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Anotopterus pharao Zugmayer, 1911 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body long and slender, cylindrical, slightly compressed anteriorly; head long and pointed, about 4 times in body; snout about 1 1/2 times in head; mouth large, premaxillae extending to or beyond a vertical from anterior edge of eye, lower jaw prolonged as a cartilaginous process; teeth present on jaws and palatines, those of palatines large and triangular; no teeth on vomer and tongue; gill arches without gillrakers or teeth. Dorsal fin absent; anal fin small, far posterior, with 14-16 finrays; pectoral fins with 12-15 finrays; pelvic fins abdominal with 9-11 finrays; dorsal adipose fin present. Scales absent on body except on lateral line. Vertebrae 76-80. Swimbladder absent. Colour: silvery in adolescents, blackish in adults. Size: to about 50 cm.
Habitat: bathypelagic from about 500 to below 2,000 m; probably a swift swimmer. Food: carnivorous, feeding mainly on fishes. Reproduction: no data, except from one post-larva; only known from adolescents and adults.
Distribution: antitropical from temperate waters to the Poles in Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Nybelin, 1948: 36 (specimen measuring 15 mm in S.L.) | Maul, 1952b: 54, fig. 15 (young).
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.