Author: (Brauer, 1906)
Lepidophanes gaussi (Brauer, 1906)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Lepidophanes gaussi (Brauer, 1906) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 14 (13, rarely 12 or 15); anal finrays 14 (13-15); pectoral finrays 12-13 (11). Gillrakers 3 + 1 + 8 (rarely 7), total 12 (rarely 11). AO 6 (5-7) + 6 (5-7, rarely 8), total 12 (11, rarely 13). Size: 50 mm (max.).
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Canaries: day at 700-1,000 m; night at 25-200 m. Bermuda: day at 601-800 m (maximum abundance at 651-700 m); night at 50-200 m (maximum abundance at 51-100 m). Juveniles non-migratory (Bermuda). Size stratification with depth during day, with reversal of size stratification at night. Food: no data. Reproduction: sexual maturity from about 35 mm.
Distribution: endemic Atlantic: subtropical pattern (Gyral-eye subpattern), in central regions of anticyclonic gyrals in both hemispheres, i.e. between 38° and 21° N and between 13° and 27° S (eastern sector) and between 18° and 42° N and between 10° and 30° S (western sector).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Moser and Ahlström, 1974: 409, fig. 12 C.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 15, 27, fig. 88.