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Viperfish
Chauliodus sloani Bloch & Schneider, 1801
A 25 cm long Viperfish trawled during the NORFANZ expedition at a depth between the surface and 1320 m in international waters south-east of Norfolk Island, May 2003 (NMNZ P.38921). Photo: M. McGrouther © NORFANZ. View larger image. View image of whole fish.
Above and below: A Viperfish from the Australian Museum Fish Collection (AMS I.19738-041). Photo: C.Bento © Australian Museum.
The sides of the body are covered with hexagonal pigmented areas, each with one or more small photophores (light-producing organs). The photophores are visible in this image as white spots above and below the pectoral fin. Another circular photophore is visible under the eye. Photo: C.Bento © Australian Museum. View larger image.
The Viperfish can be recognised by its large mouth, long fang-like teeth and long first dorsal fin ray (up to half the body length). It is an iridescent dark silver-blue colour in life with pale fins. The sides of the body are covered with hexagonal pigmented areas, each with one or more small photophores.
Like many other species of deepsea fishes, the Viperfish is known to vertically migrate. During the day it is found at depths from 500 m to 2500 m, but at night it swims up into shallower water (less than 600 m) where food is more plentiful.
The Viperfish grows to over 30 cm in length.
It feeds mostly on crustaceans and small fishes. The first dorsal fin has photophores that are believed to attract prey.
Little is known of the reproduction of this species, but it is believed to spawn externally. This means that the males and females release sperm and eggs into the water where fertilization occurs.
The Viperfish occurs in tropical and temperate marine waters world-wide. In Australia, specimens have been collected from south-western Western Australia, around the north of the country and south to Tasmania.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
The second and third images show Viperfish from the Australian Museum Fish Collection (AMS I.19738-041). This fish was collected in a midwater trawl (a special trawl net that moves through the water well off the bottom) at a depth of 275 m in the western Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea in November 1969. Like most fishes in the collection it was first fixed in formaldehyde and then transferred into 70% ethyl alcohol for long-term storage.
Related links
- For more information on trawl depths, visit capture depths of deepsea fishes.
- View the deepsea fishes list.
Further reading
- Gomon, M.F & E.M. Robertson. 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.
- Harold, A.S. 1999. Chauliodontidae. In Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-vi, 1398-2068.
- McCulloch, A.R. 1916. Report on some fishes obtained by the F.I.S. Endeavour on the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South and South-Western Australia. Part 4. Biol. Res. Endeavour 4(4):169-199 figs 1-2, pls 49-58 [179 pl 52].
