Gonostomatidae is a family of deep-water marine fish, commonly named bristlemouths, lightfishes or anglemouths. It is a relatively small family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

, containing only eight known genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 and 32 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. However, bristlemouths make up for their lack of diversity with numbers: Cyclothone, with 12 species, is thought to be (along with Vinciguerria

Vinciguerria

Vinciguerria are a genus of lightfishes.-Included species:The genus Vinciguerria include the following species:* Vinciguerria attenuata* Vinciguerria lucetia * Vinciguerria mabahiss...

), the most abundant vertebrate genus in the world.

The fossil record of this family dates back to the Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 epoch

Epoch (geology)

An epoch is a subdivision of the geologic timescale based on rock layering. In order, the higher subdivisions are periods, eras and eons. We are currently living in the Holocene epoch...

, and was discovered by L. S. Berg in 1958. The fish are mostly found in the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 and Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, although the species Cyclothone microdon may be found in Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 waters. They have elongated bodies from 2 centimetre (0.78740157480315 in) to 30 centimetres (11.8 in) in length. They have a number of green or red light-producing photophore

Photophore

A photophore is a light-emitting organ which appears as luminous spots on various marine animals, including fish and cephalopods. The organ can be simple, or as complex as the human eye; equipped with lenses, shutters, color filters and reflectors...

s aligned along the undersides of their heads or bodies. Their chief common name, bristlemouth, comes from their odd equally-sized and bristle-like teeth. Due to the depth in which they live, where very little light penetrates, the fish is typically colored black so as to hide from prey.

Species

Some classifications include the genera Pollichthys and Vinciguerria

Vinciguerria

Vinciguerria are a genus of lightfishes.-Included species:The genus Vinciguerria include the following species:* Vinciguerria attenuata* Vinciguerria lucetia * Vinciguerria mabahiss...

, but this article follows FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

 in placing them in the family Phosichthyidae

Phosichthyidae

Lightfishes are small stomiiform fishes in the family PhosichthyidaeThey 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....

.

Some classifications include species in the genus Zaphotias, but these are junior synonyms of the species Bonapartia pedaliota.

• Genus Bonapartia
  • Bonapartia pedaliota Goode & Bean, 1896.
• Genus Cyclothone
  • Benttooth bristlemouth, Cyclothone acclinidens Garman, 1899.
  • Cyclothone alba Brauer, 1906.
  • Deep-water bristlemouth, Cyclothone atraria Gilbert, 1905.
  • Garrick, Cyclothone braueri Jespersen & Tåning, 1926.
  • Cyclothone kobayashii Miya, 1994.
  • Cyclothone livida Brauer, 1902.
  • Veiled anglemouth
    Veiled anglemouth
    The Veiled anglemouth, Cyclothone microdon, is a bristlemouth of the family Gonostomatidae, abundant in all the world's ocean at depths between 300 and 2,500 m...
    
    , Cyclothone microdon (Günther, 1878).
    
  • Cyclothone obscura Brauer, 1902.
  • Yellow bristlemouth, Cyclothone pacifica Mukhacheva, 1964.
  • Tan bristlemouth, Cyclothone pallida Brauer, 1902.
  • Cyclothone parapallida Badcock, 1982.
  • Slender bristlemouth, Cyclothone pseudopallida Mukhacheva, 1964.
  • Cyclothone pygmaea Jespersen & Tåning, 1926.
  • Showy bristlemouth, Cyclothone signata Garman, 1899.
• Genus Diplophos
  • Diplophos australis Ozawa, Oda & Ida, 1990.
  • Diplophos orientalis Matsubara, 1940.
  • Diplophos pacificus (Mukhacheva, 1964).
  • Diplophos rebainsi
    Diplophos rebainsi
    Diplophos rebainsi is a bristlemouth of the family Gonostomatidae, found in the south-east and west Pacific, and the South Atlantic oceans.-References:...
    
    Krefft & Parin, 1972.
  • Pacific portholefish, Diplophos taenia Günther, 1873.
    
• Genus Gonostoma
  • Atlantic fangjaw, Gonostoma atlanticum Norman, 1930.
  • Gonostoma bathyphilum (Vaillant
    Léon Vaillant
    Léon Louis Vaillant was a French zoologist. He is most famous for his work in the areas of herpetology, malacology, and ichthyology...
    
    , 1884).
    
  • Gonostoma denudatum Rafinesque
    Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz
    Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, was a nineteenth-century polymath who made notable contributions to botany, zoology, the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America and Mesoamerican ancient linguistics.Rafinesque was eccentric, and is often portrayed as an...
    
    , 1810.
    
  • Elongated bristlemouth, Gonostoma elongatum Günther, 1878.
  • Gonostoma longipinnis Mukhacheva, 1972.
• Genus Margrethia
  • Margrethia obtusirostra
    Margrethia obtusirostra
    Margrethia obtusirostra is a bristlemouth of the family Gonostomatidae, found in the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans, at depths of between 100 and 600 m...
    
    Jespersen & Tåning, 1919.
  • Margrethia valentinae Parin, 1982.
• Genus Manducus
  • Manducus greyae (Johnson, 1970).
  • Manducus maderensis (Johnson, 1890).
• Genus Sigmops
  • Ebeling's fangjaw, Sigmops ebelingi (Grey, 1960).
  • Slender fangjaw, Sigmops gracilis (Günther, 1878).
• Genus Triplophos
  • Triplophos hemingi (McArdle, 1901).