Order Stomiiformes - dragonfishes, lightfishes, hatchetfishes
Diverse, abundant and widespread group of small to medium-sized predatory epi-, meso- and bathypelagic fishes having complex arrangements of light organs or photophores. The premaxilla and maxilla are included in the gape of the mouth and both bear teeth. The light produced by the photophores is from a biochemical reaction occurring within the body cells (intrinsic bioluminescence). Interrelationships of the order have not been resolved.
Families in Australian waters:
References
Ahlstrom, E.H., W.J. Richards & S.H. Weitzman. 1984. Families Gonostomatidae, Sternoptychidae, and associated stomiiform groups: development and relationships, p. 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. & 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.
Kawaguchi, K. & H.G. Moser. 1984. Stomiatoidea: Development, p. 169-181. In Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. Am. Soc. Ichthyol. Herpetol. Spec. Publ. No. 1, 760 pp.
Richards, W.J. 2006. Ch. 15 Order Stomiiformes, p. 177. 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.