View data on Catalog of Fishes here.
pectoral finrays 11–13; pelvic finrays (7?) 9–10. Photophores in ventral row between pectoral and pelvic fin insertions (PV) 15–16, between pelvic fin insertion and end of row over anal fin (VAV) 12–13, total in ventral row from isthmus to tail (IC) 38–39; in lateral row to pelvic fin insertion (OV) 14–16, from pelvic fin insertion to end of row over anal fin (VAL) 10–12, total in lateral row (OA) 25–26. Color of head and body black with iridescent blue, green or bronze.
off Gibraltar and west of Madeira. Elsewhere, southward to 9° N and again off South Africa; also, Bermuda, Cuba and Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles and Pacific and Indian Oceans.
meso- to bathypelagic
Gibbs RH, Jr. 1984. Melanostomiidae. In: Whitehead PJP, Bauchot M-L, Hureau J-C, Nielsen J, Tortonese E, editors. Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Paris: UNESCO. p 341–365.
to about 17 cm.
View original type description here.
