Eustomias trewavasae

Taxobox
name = "Eustomias trewavasae"


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Stomiiformes
familia = Stomiidae
genus = "Eustomias"
species = "E. trewavasae"
binomial = "Eustomias trewavasae"
binomial_authority = Norman, 1930

"Eustomias trewavasae" is a small abyssal barbeled dragonfish of the family Stomiidae, found worldwide in tropical and subtropical oceans, at depths down to 1,500 m. Its length is up to 25 cm.

"Eustomias trewavasae" is a very elongate and slender deepwater fish with a chin barbel about a third of the body in length. The eye, mouth and head are large, but the dorsal and anal fins that are set well back along the body, and the caudal fin, are all small and weak.

Fishes in the genus "Eustomias" are very similar, and identification relies mainly upon differences in the size and shape of the barbel, and in the number of lures and filaments on it. In "Eustomias trewavasae" there are four terminal swellings on the barbel with a group of small filaments arising from the second of these. Males have a large luminous organ behind the eye that is either minute or absent in females. Along the lower body is a row of small purplish photophores, and there is luminous material on the fin rays.

References

*
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8