Hatchetfish
Encyclopedia
The name hatchetfish may refer to two unrelated groups of fish
es:
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es:
- Marine hatchetfishMarine hatchetfishMarine hatchetfishes or deep-sea hatchetfishes are small deep-sea mesopelagic ray-finned fish of the stomiiform subfamily Sternoptychinae...
es, small deep-sea bioluminescentBioluminescenceBioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...
fishes (StomiiformesStomiiformesStomiiformes is an order of deep-sea ray-finned fishes of very diverse morphology. It includes for example dragonfishes, lightfishes, loosejaws, marine hatchetfishes and viperfishes. The order contains 4 families with more than 50 genera and almost 400 species...
) of the family SternoptychidaeSternoptychidaeThe marine hatchetfishes or deep-sea hatchetfishes as well as the related bottlelights, pearlsides and constellationfishes are small deep-sea bathypelagic ray-finned fish of the stomiiform family Sternoptychidae...
, subfamily Sternoptychinae.
- Freshwater hatchetfishFreshwater hatchetfishThe freshwater hatchetfishes are a family, Gasteropelecidae, of ray-finned fish. The common hatchetfish is the most popular member among fish keeping hobbyists...
es, tropical characinCharaciformesThe Characiformes are an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, there are a few thousand different species, including the well-known piranha and tetras.-Taxonomy:...
s of the large family Gasteropelecidae.