Author: (Johnson, 1863)
Notoscopelus (Notoscopelus) caudispinosus (Johnson, 1863)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Notoscopelus caudispinosus (Johnson, 1863) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 26 (25-27, rarely 24); anal finrays 20 (19-21); pectoral finrays 12 (11-13). Gillrakers 4 + 1 + 9 (rarely 8 or 10), total 14 (rarely 13 or 15). AO 7 (rarely 8) + 4 (5), total 11 (12). Males with supra-caudal gland only, consisting of 6-8 scale-like luminous segments. Size: to 140 mm.
Habitat: high-oceanic, mesopelagic. Bermuda: day at 600-1,150 m; night at 20-100 m (maximum abundance at 50-100 m). Generally: day at deeper than 1,000 m; nyctoepipelagic at surface and down to 175 m (maximum abundance at 60-125 m). Food: no data. Reproduction: caudal glands in males develop at 65 mm; size at sexual maturity unknown. Probably spawns in autumn-winter (western North Atlantic).
Distribution: Atlantic: broadly tropical pattern (holo-eurytropical subpattern), between about 40° N and 40° S (western sector) and between 34° N and 25° S (eastern sector), but with disjunct distribution off Brazil Elsewhere: Indian Ocean (at 7° 56' S, 65°14' E) and Pacific (off Hawaii).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Kotthaus, 1972a: 15, 27, fig. 94.