Argyropelecus

Silver hatchetfishes
Temporal range: Chattian to Present
27.82–0 Ma
Argyropelecus lychnus, conventional and X-ray images
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Stomiiformes
Family: Sternoptychidae
Subfamily: Sternoptychinae
Genus: Argyropelecus
Cocco, 1829
Diversity
7 species

Argyropelecus is an oceanic ray-finned fish genus in the deep sea hatchetfish family Sternoptychidae. A collective name is "silver hatchetfishes", but this can also refer to a species of the freshwater hatchetfishes which are not particularly closely related to this. The large pupils of these marine hatchetfishes enable them to see dim objects in the deep sea, where light barely penetrates.

Species

There are currently seven recognized extant species in this genus:[1]

A. prisca, a fossil species from the Oligocene of Romania

The earliest unequivocal fossils of Argyropelecus date from the start of the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene[2] The original assessment of Eocene-aged otoliths from Austria assigned to this genus is now questioned.[2]

References

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Argyropelecus". FishBase. February 2012 version.
  2. ^ a b Carnevale, Giorgio. "Redescription and phylogenetic relationships of Argyropelecus logearti (Teleostei: Stomiiformes: Sternoptychidae), with a brief review of fossil Argyropelecus." Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research In Paleontology and Stratigraphy) 109.1 (2003).
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