Pricklefish

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, only living below 1,000 metres (3,300 ft)^[1], and have been found down to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). 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.^[1]

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.

References

^ ^a ^b Paxton, John R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 163. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.

Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Stephanoberycidae" in FishBase. MarchFebruary 2006 version.
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.