Author: Goode and Bean, 1896
Diaphus effulgens (Goode and Bean, 1896)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Diaphus effulgens (Goode and Bean, 1896) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 16 (15, rarely 17); anal finrays 15 (rarely 14 or16); pectoral finrays 12 (11, rarely 13). Gillrakers: eastern North Atlantic: 6 (rarely 7) + 1 + 13 (12), total 20 (19-21); South Atlantic: 6 (rarely 5 or 7) + 1 + 12-13, total 19-20 (rarely 18 or 21). AO 6 (rarely 5 or 7) + 5 (rarely 4 or 6), total 11 (rarely 10 or 12). Size: to over 150 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Bermuda: day at 501-700 m (maximum abundance at 501-600 m); night at 51-250 m (maximum abundance at 51-100 m). Generally: day at 325-650 m (maximum abundance at 450-500 m); night at 40-175 m (maximum abundance at 100 m). Large specimens (> 100 mm) may be non-migratory; smaller specimens (80-100 mm) partial or non-migrators. Food: no data. Reproduction: size at sexual maturity unknown. Probably spawns in the spring.
Distribution: Atlantic: subtropical pattern (bisubtropical subpattern); between about 20° and 40° N and between 19° S (eastern sector) or 24° S (western sector) and the Subtropical Convergence. Elsewhere: Indian Ocean (west of 70° E between 5° and 38° S); Pacific (South-East Asian Seas; western Pacific between 0° and 29° N; and eastern and central South Pacific).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Nafpaktitis, 1968: 73, fig. 45B (juvenile).
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 12, 26, fig. 68.