Teleostei (teleosts) >
Stomiiformes (Lightfishes and dragonfishes) >
Stomiidae (Barbeled dragonfishes) > Melanostomiinae
Etymology: Tactostoma: There is two interpretations; Greek, taktos, -e,-on = put in order + Greek, soma = body; or latin, tactus = touch, sense of touch + Greek, soma = body (Ref. 45335).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; bathypelagic; oceanodromous (Ref. 138310); depth range 30 - 2000 m (Ref. 28981). Deep-water; 66°N -
Northwest Pacific: Japan (Ref. 559); Kamchatka and Kuril Islands (Ref. 41668). Eastern Pacific: Bering Sea (Ref. 265) and the Gulf of Alaska to southern California, USA (Ref. 2850), southwards to central Baja California (Ref. 35904). Reported from Chile.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 30 - ? cm
Max length : 34.3 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4925)
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 14 - 18; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 19 - 22; Vertebrae: 79 - 82. Jet black all over except for the dark gray on the posterior part of the lower jaw; when the thin epidermis is rubbed off, as is difficult to avoid, the dermis shows lead gray; young rich brown in color (Ref. 6885).
Body shape (shape guide): eel-like.
Mesopelagic migrating into epipelagic at night (Ref. 35904). Oviparous, with planktonic eggs and larvae (Ref. 35904).
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983. A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p. (Ref. 2850)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804) |
PD50 = 1.0000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high]. |
|
Bayesian length-weight
|
a=0.00093 (0.00035 - 0.00247), b=3.06 (2.83 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245). |
Trophic level (Ref. 69278) |
4.2 ±0.0 se; based on diet studies. |
|
Generation time |
3.3 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies. |
Resilience (Ref. 120179) |
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.3). |
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153) |
Low to moderate vulnerability (33 of 100). 🛈 |