Pricklefish

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Pricklefishes
Stephanoberyx monae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Stephanoberyciformes Family: Stephanoberycidae
Genera
Acanthochaenus Malacosarcus Stephanoberyx See text for species.

Pricklefishes are a family, Stephanoberycidae, of fishes in the order Stephanoberyciformes.

They are found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.

They are deep-water fishes and have been found down to 5,000 m. It is thought that they are bathypelagic (deep ocean dwelling) or benthic (bottom dwelling) as they are known to eat crabs.

Their common name derives from the large spiny form of their scales in some species.

[edit] Species

There are four species in four genera:

• Genus Abyssoberyx
  • Abyssoberyx levisquamosus Merrett & Moore, 2005.
• Genus Acanthochaenus
  • Acanthochaenus luetkenii Gill, 1884.
• Genus Malacosarcus
  • Malacosarcus macrostoma (Günther, 1878).
• Genus Stephanoberyx
  • Stephanoberyx monae Gill, 1883.

[edit] References

• "Stephanoberycidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. MarchFebruary 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• Merrett, N. R. and J. A. Moore. 2005. A new genus and species of deep demersal fish (Teleostei: Stephanoberycidae) from the tropical eastern North Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 67:1699–1710.