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Escal appendage pattern B; esca with a stout, internally pigmented anterior appendage, the bifurcated distal end of which bears numerous unpigmented tapering filaments; three pairs of filamentous medial escal appendages, most anterior pair the longest, nearly as long as escal bulb; a rounded terminal escal papilla with a distal streak of pigment; an unpigmented tapering posterior escal appendage, slightly expanded and trifurcated at distal tip; lateral escal appendages absent; a stout unpigmented anterolateral escal appendage bearing a few small filaments.Subopercle without indentation on posterodorsal margin; length of ventral fork of opercle 21.4–23.8% SL; ratio of lengths of dorsal and ventral forks of opercle 0.38–0.47.
Epibranchial teeth absent; teeth present on pharyngobranchial II; total number of teeth in upper jaw 20–65, in lower jaw 27–70; number of teeth on vomer 4–8; dorsal-fin rays 6; anal-fin rays 4; pectoral-fin rays 16 or 17.
Measurements in percent of standard length: head length 35.7–38.1; head depth 37.1–38.6; premaxilla length 25.7–31.7; lower jaw length 38.1–38.6; illicium length 35.7–60.0
Oneirodes dicromischus differs among its congeners in having a relatively long illicium (comparable only to some members of the O. schmidti-group) high tooth counts (both characters not fully developed in the 21-mm immature specimen), as well as a unique escal morphology. The illicium length and tooth counts of adult specimens alone easily separate this form from all other described species of Oneirodes. In addition, O. dicromischus appears to be a relatively elongate member of the genus: proportional measurements of head length and depth, and premaxilla and lower-jaw length, lie near the bottom of the range of variation for females of all species of Oneirodes combined.
Oneirodes dicromischus is known from two specimens, collected in the Western and Central Pacific on or very near the equator.
Meso- to bathypelagic. The holotype was captured between the surface and 840 m, and the second specimen, between the surface and 1030 m.
Pietsch TW. 2009. Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea. Berkley: University of California Press. 638 p.
Although unknown, males of O. dicromischus are certainly free living and non-parasitic, as is the case with most oneirodid taxa.
Known from two metamorphosed females (21–35 mm).
CARIDE cruise 3, station 59, Central Pacific, 00°01'N, 139°06'W, 3-m Isaacs-Kidd Mid-water Trawl, 0–840 m, 0816 hr, 18 February 1969.
Holotype of Oneirodes dicromischus: LACM 31463-1, 35 mm.
