Family Phosichthyidae
Taxonomy: Family with about 26 species in 7 genera; 5 genera with 13 species known from Australian waters.
Distribution, ecology and habitat: Worldwide in all oceans; meso- and bathypelagic in oceanic waters and over continental slope; some thought to be benthopelagic.
Characteristics:
Body slender, compressed, head small to moderate, mouth large, jaw teeth small to large, not long and fang-like; chin barbel absent, gill rakers usually well-developed, pseudobranch present. Photophores in two or more ventrolateral rows, usually two rows before anal-fin origin and a single row to caudal fin; orbital photophores usually two, isthmus with row of photophores, those behind pelvic fin in clusters. Dorsal fin small, usually near midbody, usually well in advance of anal-fin origin; anal fin not extending onto caudal peduncle; pectoral and ventral fins small; dorsal adipose fin usually present, ventral adipose fin present in some; bony pectoral-fin radials three. Scales cycloid, weakly attached.
Size: Reach about 30 cm, most less than 10 cm in length, some only growing to 4 cm.
Food and feeding: Feed primarily on zooplankton, especially small crustaceans.
Reproduction and early life history: Oviparous, planktonic eggs and larvae. Eggs small, spherical with clear shells, yolk segmented, oil globules present or absent. Larvae very similar to those of gonostomatids and sternoptychids, slender, elongate, preanus length relatively long, with a short "white" photophore stage where photophores are unpigmented at formation, then develop pigment simultaneously. Larvae at hatching - eyes unpigmented, mouth non-functional, yolk sac large, gut may trail.
Fisheries: None - Lightfishes are rarely captured even in very deepwater trawls.
Australian species:
- Ichthyococcus australis Mukhacheva, 1980 Southern Lightfish CAAB 37106022
- Ichthyococcus intermedius Mukhacheva, 1980 Intermediate Lightfish CAAB 37106023
- Ichthyococcus ovatus (Cocco, 1838) Ovate Lightfish CAAB 37106009
- Phosichthys argenteus (Hutton, 1872) Silver Lightfish CAAB 37106002
- Polymetme corythaeola (Alcock, 1898) Rendezvous Fish CAAB 37106001
- Polymetme illustris McCulloch, 1926 Brilliant Lightfish CAAB 37106027
- Polymetme surugaensis (Matsubara, 1943) Suruga Lightfish CAAB 37106028
- Vinciguerria attenuata (Cocco, 1838) Slender Lightfish CAAB 37106005
- Vinciguerria nimbaria (Jordan & Williams, 1896) Narooma Lightfish CAAB 37106006
- Vinciguerria poweriae (Cocco, 1838) Power's Lightfish CAAB 37106007
- Woodsia meyerwaardeni Krefft, 1973 Austral Lightfish CAAB 37106011
- Woodsia nonsuchae (Beebe, 1932) Bigeye Lightfish CAAB 37106024
References:
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.
Parin, N.V. & O.D. Borodulina. 1990. Survey of the genus Polymetme (Photichthyidae) with a description of two new species. Vopr. Ikhtiol. 30: 733-743.
Richard, W.J. 2006. Ch. 18 Phosichthyidae: Lightfishes, p. 247, 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.