Family Gonostomatidae
Taxonomy: Worldwide family with 8 genera and more than 25 species, all genera and 18 species known from Australian waters.
Distribution, ecology and habitat: Worldwide in all oceans; epi-, meso- and bathypelagic, usually in 300-3000 m.
Characteristics:
Body moderately elongate, compressed; mouth large, reaching well beyond eye; jaw teeth in rows; gill rakers well-developed, pseudobranchiae usually absent, chin barbel absent. One or more longitudinal rows of photophores on ventral surface of body, photophores present or absent on isthmus, posterior orbital photophore absent. Bony pectoral radials 4 in most, one in Cyclothone. Dorsal fin small, origin usually at or slightly posterior to middle of body in most, anal-fin base long, pectoral and ventral fins small; adipose fin present or absent. Scales, when present, cycloid, weakly attached.
Size: Small fishes, from 2 cm to about 36 cm, usually less than 20 cm; some very small species are delicate inhabitants of the plankton.
Food and feeding: Known to feed on small fishes and crustaceans.
Reproduction and early life history: Many species are sexually dimorphic and/or hermaphtoditic. Little known of eggs and larvae, as species identities are poorly known and larvae are easily confused with those of phosichthids and sternoptychids. Larval pigmentation and development of photophore patterns are diagnostic; photophores develop in two patterns, either simultaneously ("white" photophore stage) or gradual and protracted. Larvae at hatching - body long, slender, gut not trailing, eyes oval, unpigmented, becoming round, mouth unformed, pigment light, usually on midbody, gas bladder and gut.
Fisheries: Although most are rarely taken, some are caught as bycatch by deep commercial trawlers. Some species are among the most common fishes in the ocean, but are rarely caught due to their small size and very deep waters in which they live.
Remarks: Light produced by photophores is from a biochemical reaction occurring within body cells (intrinsic bioluminescence).
Australian species:
- Bonapartia pedaliota Goode & Bean, 1896 Longray Fangjaw CAAB 37106012
- Cyclothone acclinidens Garman, 1899 Bent-tooth Bristlemouth CAAB 37106013
- Cyclothone alba Brauer, 1906 Pale Bristlemouth CAAB 37106014
- Cyclothone braueri Jespersen & Tåning, 1926 Brauer's Bristlemouth CAAB 37106015
- Cyclothone kobayashii Miya, 1994 Kobayashi's Bristlemouth CAAB 37106025
- Cyclothone microdon (Günther, 1878) Smalltooth Bristlemouth CAAB 37106016
- Cyclothone obscura Brauer, 1902 Hidden Bristlemouth CAAB 37106017
- Cyclothone pallida Brauer, 1902 Tanned Bristlemouth CAAB 37106018
- Cyclothone parapallida Badcock, 1982 Shadow Bristlemouth CAAB 37106026
- Cyclothone pseudopallida Mukhacheva, 1964 Slender Bristlemouth CAAB 37106019
- Diplophos rebainsi Krefft & Parin, 1972 Rebains' Portholefish CAAB 37106010
- Diplophos taenia Günther, 1873 Pacific Portholefish CAAB 37106008
- Gonostoma atlanticum Norman, 1930 Atlantic Fangjaw CAAB 37106003
- Margrethia obtusirostra Jespersen & Tåning, 1919 Bighead Portholefish CAAB 37106021
- Sigmops bathyphilus (Vaillant, 1884) Deepsea Fangjaw CAAB 37106020
- Sigmops elongatus (Günther, 1878) Elongate Fangjaw CAAB 37106004
References:
Ahlstrom, E.H., W.J. Richards & S.H. Weitzman. 1984. Families Gonostomatidae, Sternoptychidae, and associated stomiiform groups: development and relationships, pp. 184-198 In Moser H.G., W.J. Richards, D.M. Cohen, M.P. Fahay, A.W. Kendall, Jr. & S.L. Richardson (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. Am. Soc. Ichthyol. Herpetol. Spec. Publ. No. 1. 760 pp.
Harold, A.S. 1998. Phylogenetic relationships of the Gonostomatidae (Teleostei: Stomiiformes). Bull. Mar. Sci. 62(3): 715–41.
Harold, A.S. 1999. Gonostomatidae, Sternoptychidae, Phosichthyidae, Astronesthidae, Stomiidae, Chauliodontidae, Melanostomiidae, Idiacanthidae, and Malacosteidae. In Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem. Species identification guide for fisheries purposes. The living marine resources of the western central Pacific. Batoid fishes, chimeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome.
Harold, A.S. & S.H.Weitzman. 1996. Interrelationships of Stomiiform Fishes, pp. 333-353. In Stiassny, M.L.J., L.R. Parenti & G.D. Johnson (eds.) The Interrelationships of Fishes. Academic Press, London.
Miya, M. & T. Nemoto. 1991. Comparative life histories of the meso- and bathypelagic fishes of the genus Cyclothone (Pisces: Gonostomatidae) in Sagama Bay, central Japan. Deep-Sea Res. 38(1): 67-89.
Miya, M. & M. Nishida. 2000. Molecular systematics of the deep-sea fish genus Gonostoma (Stomiiformes: Gonostomatidae): two paraphyletic clades and resurrection of Sigmops. Copeia 2000(2): 378-389.
Richard, W.J. 2006. Ch. 16 Gonostomatidae: Bristlemouths, p. 183, In W.J. Richards (ed). Early Stages Of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide For The Western Central North Atlantic. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, 2640 pp.
Schaefer, S., R.K. Johnson & J. Babcock. 1986. Family No. 73: Photichthyidae (pp. 243-247), Family No. 74: Gonostomatidae, pp. 247-253 In smith, M.M. & P.C. Heemstra. Smiths' Sea Fishes. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol., Grahamstown, South Africa.
Watson, W. 1996. Gonostomatidae: Bristlemouths, p. 247-267. In H.G. Moser (ed.), The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. CalCOFI Atlas 33. Allen Press, Lawrence, KS, 1505 pp.