| Bajacalifornia | |
|---|---|
| Bajacalifornia megalops | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Osmeriformes |
| Family: | Alepocephalidae |
| Genus: | Bajacalifornia C. H. Towsend & Nichols, 1925 |
| Species | |
|
7, see text |
|
Bajacalifornia is a fish genus from the family Alepocephalidae. It was described in 1925 by Charles Haskins Townsend and John Treadwell Nichols on the basis of Bajacalifornia burragei[1] which was discovered in 1911 during the deep sea expedition of the research vessel USS Albatross off the coast of Todos Santos Bay at the Baja California peninsula.[1] The body is covered with small cycloid scales. The ventral scales are well developed. The mouth is moderately wide but larger than in the genus Alepocephalus. The lower jaw is strongly projected and ends in a pointed knob which is directed obliquely forwards. The jaw edges have a single row of small teeth. The gill raker openings are wide, the gill membranes are joined below. The short dorsal and anal fins are equal in length.[1]
The distribution area ranges from the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific north to the Sea of Japan and eastwards to the East Pacific Rise.
The genus Bajacalifornia includes seven species. Bajacalifornia burragei is the type species described in 1925. In 1952 Ichthyologist Albert Eide Parr published a revision[2] of Bajacalifornia and classified Cyclothone megalops (described in 1898 by Christian Frederik Lütken[3] ) and Bathytroctes calcaratus (described in 1913 by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber[4]) into this genus. Bajacalifornia erimoensi was described in 1977, Bajacalifornia arcylepis in 1985, Bajacalifornia microstoma in 1988 and Bajacalifornia aequatoris in 1993