| Silver hatchetfishes Temporal range: Mid-late Eocene to Present 40–0 Ma |
|
|---|---|
| Argyropelecus aculeatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Stomiiformes |
| Family: | Sternoptychidae |
| Subfamily: | Sternoptychinae |
| Genus: | Argyropelecus Cocco, 1829 |
| Diversity | |
| 7 species | |
Argyropelecus is an oceanic ray-finned fish genus which belongs in the family Sternoptychidae. A collective name is "silver hatchetfishes", but this can also refer to a species of the freshwater hatchetfishes which are not particularly closely related but merely convergent. The large pupils of these marine hatchetfishes enable them to see dim objects in the deep sea, where light barely penetrates.
Seven living species are placed in Argyropelecus:[1]
Fossils of this genus show that they have existed at least since the mid-late Eocene, about 40 million years ago.[2]