Phosichthyidae

Lightfishes are small stomiiform fishes in the family Phosichthyidae[1][2]

Lightfishes
Ichthyococcus ovatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Stomiiformes
Suborder: Phosichthyoidei
Family: Phosichthyidae
Genera

Ichthyococcus
Phosichthys
Pollichthys
Polymetme
Vinciguerria
Woodsia
Yarrella

Synonyms

Photichthyidae

They are very small fishes found in oceans throughout the world: most species grow no longer than 10 cm, while those in the genus Vinciguerria only reach 4 cm or so.

They make up for their small size with abundant numbers: Vinciguerria is thought — with the possible exception of Cyclothone — to be the most abundant genus of vertebrates. Deep-sea trawls of the Humboldt Current in the southeast Pacific have found that lightfishes make up 85% by mass of mesopelagic fishes, with Vinciguerria lucetia by far the most numerous species.[3]

They are bioluminescent fishes, possessing rows of photophores along their sides, with which they hunt planktonic invertebrates, especially krill.

References
  1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Phosichthyidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
  2. "Phosichthyidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 March 2006.
  3. R. Cornejo, R. Koppelmann & T. Sutton. "Deep-sea fish diversity and ecology in the benthic boundary layer".


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