The multipore searsid (''Normichthys operosus'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fish in the family

Platytroctidae The tubeshoulders are a family, Platytroctidae, of ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are ...

(tubeshoulders).

Name

Its scientific name is from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''operōsus'', "busy, hardworking". Its common name "multipore" refers to the dermal pits located behind its shoulders, and " searsid" is a name used for fish that resemble '' Searsia koefoedi''.

Description

The multipore searsid is maximum long and is black or dark brown in colour. Its body is deep and compressed, its head about one-third of body length. It has a simple

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

and few or no

photophores A photophore is a specialized anatomical structure found in a variety of organisms that emits light through the process of Bioluminescence, boluminescence. This light may be produced endogenously by the organism itself (symbiotic) or generat ...

. It has two to four large, and several smaller, open dermal pits behind the upper part of

shoulder girdle The shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is the set of bones in the appendicular skeleton which connects to the arm on each side. In humans, it consists of the clavicle and scapula; in those species with three bones in the shoulder, it consists o ...

, with usually at least one pit twice as wide as body scales; these give it the name "multipore."

Habitat

The multipore searsid is

bathypelagic The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypela ...

, living in

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

at depths of , but rarely going below , following a isotherm and being found near

seamount A seamount is a large submarine landform that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet, or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly a ...

s. It is most concentrated in the waters southwest of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

References

Normichthys Fish described in 1951 Taxa named by Albert Eide Parr {{Alepocephaliformes-stub