View data on Catalog of Fishes here.
Barbel length 2.2 4 times in SL, its stem unpigmented except at base; tip of barbel unpigmented or with irregular dark patches, elongate, with an opaque axis with a small black spot at its distal end and two narrow, transparent, flattened wings, each containing small, spherical or elongate opaque bodies; distal end with a long, tapering filamentous extension. Dorsal-fin rays 11–16 (usually 14–15). Photophores in ventral row between pectoral and pelvic-fin insertions (PV) 26–29 (usually 27–28). Color of head and body black; no prominent round white spots on head.
North Atlantic west of about 45° W between 28° and 36° N; Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, western Atlantic between 20° and 8° N. and from 10° to 30° S; Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Meso- to bathypelagic.
Gibbs RH, Jr. 1984. Melanostomiidae. In: Whitehead PJP, Bauchot M-L, Hureau J-C, Nielsen J, Tortonese E, editors. Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Paris: UNESCO. p 341–365.
Body moderately long, its depth less than 10 times into SL. Head with short, blunt, ronded snout; lower jaw not longer than upper jaw, not curved strongly upward. Pectoral fin with 5–6 rays, all about equal in length, unbranched distally, and without lumps of luminous tissue; pelvic fins low on body, their insertaion close together near mid-ventral line; bases of dorsal and anal fins about equally long, their origins appraximately opposed; no dorsal adipose fin. Photophores in ventral row between pectoral- and pelvic-fin inseration (PV) 26–29; no pale loop or line on flank; postorbital photophore large, as long as width of eye and approximately triangular in shape; no anterior orbital photophore. No Large patches of luminescent tissue behind eye.
To about 26 cm.
Westküste von Sumatra [off northwestern coast of Sumatra, 50 km west of Leupung, Aceh Besar Regency, Aceh Province, Indonesia, Eastern Indian Ocean, 5°23'02"N, 94°48'01"E, Valdivia station 207], depth 1024 meters.
Holotype: ZMB 17447.
Melanostomias melanops is a species of fish endemic to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. It occurs in depths of 350 to 1,024 m (1,148 to 3,360 ft), meaning they are a bathypelagic fish. It's hue is black and it has dark blotches. It has 13 and 15 dorsal and anal soft rays, respectively. The longest specimen was 26 cm (10 in) in length.[2][3]
Melanostomias melanops is a species of fish endemic to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. It occurs in depths of 350 to 1,024 m (1,148 to 3,360 ft), meaning they are a bathypelagic fish. It's hue is black and it has dark blotches. It has 13 and 15 dorsal and anal soft rays, respectively. The longest specimen was 26 cm (10 in) in length.
