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Large Hatchetfish
Argyropelecus gigas Norman, 1930
The common name of the hatchetfishes (family Sternoptychidae) comes from their distinctive body form. They are mostly deep-bodied, compressed fishes which have a sharp "blade" along the lower margin of the body and a "handle" formed by the posterior half of the body. One of the distinguishing characters of the genus Argyropelecus is the presence of a bony blade in front of the dorsal fin (partially obscured by the finger at the top of the image).
Hatchetfishes are deepsea fishes which have upward-directed eyes and light-producing photophores. Some of the photophores of the Large Hatchetfish in the image are visible as yellowish dots in a row above the anal fin and running along the abdominal margin. In life, this species is brown dorsally and on the sides. The head and ventral areas around the photophores are black, and the photophores are white to grey with a black margin.
The Large Hatchetfish has a widespread marine distribution. In Australia the species is recorded in temperate waters from Newcastle, New South Wales (32o 55'S) to south-western Western Australia (115oE), including Tasmania. It is most common in depths between 400 m to 600 m. The fish in the image was trawled off Newcastle, New South Wales at a depth of 750 m (bottom depth 1500 m) in 1979. It is registered in the Australian Museum Fish Collection as AMS I.21370-004.
The photograph is used with the permission of Barry Chapman, of the Sun Herald newspaper.
Further Reading
- Paxton, J.R. in Gomon, M.F, C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Last, P.R, E.O.G. Scott & F.H. Talbot. 1983. Fishes of Tasmania. Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority. Pp. 563.
- Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen & J.E. Hanley. 1989. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Vol.7 Pisces Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Survey. pp. i-xii, 1-665.
