Family STERNOPTYCHIDAE

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Introduction

The Sternoptychidae, as currently recognised, include ten genera and about 73-75 species (Eschmeyer & Fong 2012, Nelson et al. 2016), of which 23 species in six genera have been taken in Australian waters. The family was expanded by including seven genera previously placed in the family Gonostomatidae (Weitzman 1974).

The family is worldwide in distribution, with species either meso- or benthopelagic over slope waters. The primary food item is zooplankton including crustaceans, annelids, chaetognaths, molluscs and fishes. All species have distinctive ventral rows of photophores. Most species are smaller than 10 cm in length, although one reaches 11 cm.

A number of the genera have been revised: Argyropelecus, Polyipnus, Sternoptyx by Baird (1971); Polyipnus by Harold (1994); and, Maurolicus by Parin & Kobylianski (1993). Additional reviews are provided by Borodulina (1978, 1979). Grey (1964) is the standard reference for the remaining genera, although Struhsaker (1973) more recently reviewed Argyripnus and Harold & Lester (2003) added one sepcies. Harold & Gomon (2008) treated species found in southern Australia. Some species from Australia are treated in Harold & Stewart (2015).

 

General References

Baird, R.C. 1971. The systematics, distribution and zoogeography of the marine hatchetfishes (family Sternoptychidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard 142(1): 1-128 figs 1-80

Borodulina, O.D. 1978. Materials on the systematics and distribution of the oceanic hatchet-fishes genera Argyropelecus and Sternoptyx (Sternoptychidae, Osteichthyes). Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 111: 28-60 figs 1-16 [in Russian]

Borodulina, O.D. 1979. Composition of the "Polyipnus spinosus species complex" (Sternoptychidae, Osteichthyes) with a description of three new species of this group. Voprosy Ikhtiologii 19(2): 198-208 figs 1-5 [in Russian; English translation J. Ichthyol. 19(2): 1–10 figs 1–5]

Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fong, J.D. 2012. Species of Fishes by family/subfamily. Catalog of Fishes. Online version updated 15 March 2012. http://research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp

Grey, M. 1964. Family Gonostomatidae. pp. 78-240 figs 21-61 in Olsen, Y.H. Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Memoir. Sears Foundation of Marine Research 1(4): 1-599

Harold, A.S. 1994. A taxonomic revision of the sternoptychid genus Polyipnus (Teleostei: Stomiiformes) with an analysis of phylogenetic relationships. Bulletin of Marine Science 54(2): 428-534 figs 1-60

Harold, A.S., Stewart, A.L. & Roberts, C.D. 2015. Family Sternoptychidae. pp. 446-468 in Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 2 pp. 1-576.

Harold, A.S. & Gomon, M.F. 2008. Various family accounts. pp. 225 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Harold, A.S. & Lancaster, K. 2003. A new species of the hatchetfish genus Argyripnus (Stomiiformes: Sternoptychidae) from the Indo-Pacific. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 116(4): 883-891

Nelson, J.S. 2006. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 601 pp.

Nelson, J.S., Grande, T.C. & Wilson, M.V.H. 2016. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons 5, 752 pp.

Parin, N.V. & Kobyliansky, S.G. 1993. Review of the genus Maurolicus (Sternoptychidae, Stomiiformes), with re-establishing validity of five species considered junior synonyms of M. muelleri and descriptions of nine new species. Transactions. P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology 128: 69-107

Struhsaker, P. 1973. Argyripnus brocki, a new species of stomiatoid fish from Hawaii, with observations on A. ephippiatus and A. iridescens. Fishery Bulletin (U.S.) 71(3): 827-836 figs 1-3

Weitzman, S.H. 1974. Osteology and evolutionary relationships of the Sternoptychidae, with a new classification of stomiatoid families. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 153(3): 327-478 figs 1-113

 

Common Name References

Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds) 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs. [249] (Hatchetfishes, Lightfishes)

Harold, A.S. 1999. Families Gonostomatidae, Sternoptychidae, Phosichthyidae, Astronesthidae, Stomiidae, Chauliodontidae, Melanostomiidae, Idiacanthidae, Malacosteidae. pp. 1896-1917 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 3 pp. 1397-2068. [1900] (FAO) (Hatchetfishes)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
11-Sep-2020	STOMIIFORMES	14-May-2020	MODIFIED	Dr Dianne Bray (NMV) Dr Doug Hoese (AM) Dr Matthew Lockett (AM)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)