White-spotted lantern fish | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Myctophiformes |
Family: | Myctophidae |
Genus: | Diaphus |
Species: | D. rafinesquii
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Binomial name | |
Diaphus rafinesquii (Cocco, 1838)
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Synonyms[2] | |
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The white-spotted lantern fish (Diaphus rafinesquii), also called Rafinesque's lanternfish, is a species of fish in the family Myctophidae.[3][4][5][6]
Its specific name refers to the polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783–1840).[7]
The white-spotted lantern fish is silvery in colour, spotted with photophores, with a maximum length of 9 cm (3.5 in).[8]
Diaphus rafinesquii is bathypelagic or mesopelagic and oceanodromous, living at depths of 40–2,173 m (131–7,129 ft) in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.[9][10][11] During the day, it is typically found at 325–750 m (1,066–2,461 ft) and at night, the adults are at 300–600 m (980–1,970 ft) and the young at 40–200 m (130–660 ft).[12]
Males are slightly larger; spawning is in autumn and winter.[13]