Anomalopidae (lanterneye fishes or flashlight fishes) are a family of fish distinguished by

bioluminescent Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms inc ...

organs located underneath their eyes, for which they are named. These light organs contain luminous

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

and can be "shut off" by the fish using either a dark lid or by being drawn into a pouch. They are used to communicate, attract prey, and evade predators. Flashlight fish are found in tropical

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

waters across the world. They are typically about in size, although some species can reach twice this length. They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, feeding at night on small

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s. Some species move to shallow waters near

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s at night, but otherwise, they are exclusively deep water fish. This tends to make their collection difficult, and as such they are a poorly understood group. Anomalopidae were originally divided into 5 distinct species: '' Anomalops katoptron'' and '' Photoblepharon palpebratus'', widely distributed in the central and western Pacific Ocean; ''P. steinitzi'' from the Red Sea and Comoro Islands; '' Kryptophanaron alfredi'' from the Caribbean; and '' K. harveyi'' from Baja California. In 2019 the genus ''Photoblepharon'' was reduced to only 2 species: ''P. palpebratum'' from the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean and ''P. steinitzi'' from the Red Sea, Oman, and western Indian Ocean. Other genera include '' Parmops'' and '' Phthanophaneron.''

References

External links

* * Bioluminescent fish Euteleostei families Taxa named by Theodore Gill {{Trachichthyiformes-stub