Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) >
Myctophiformes (Lanternfishes) >
Myctophidae (Lanternfishes) > Myctophinae
Etymology: Benthosema: Greek, benthos = depth of the sea + Greek, sema, sematos = signal, flag (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range 10 - 300 m (Ref. 4066). Deep-water, preferred 26°C (Ref. 107945); 37°N - 33°S, 33°E - 154°E
Indo-West Pacific: From about 25°S off Mozambique to the Gulf of Oman, east to the Bay of Bengal, Indonesia and western Australia, and north to Japan. Southeast Atlantic: Larvae were present in cruise collections off the eastern coast of South Africa, however, adults have not been reported in this area (Ref. 41388).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 7.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9835)
Benthopelagic and mesopelagic in slope and near continental and island waters (Ref. 9835, 11230). Found in 130-300 m during the day and in 10-200 m at night (Ref. 4066). Feeds in the evening (Ref. 9191). Feeds on mainly on copepods and various crustacean larvae. Lipid content is 4.6 % in fresh body weight (Ref. 8966).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Hulley, P.A., 1986. Myctophidae. p. 282-321. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 4066)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: minor commercial
More information
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
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Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82805): PD
50 = 0.5312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00424 - 0.02467), b=3.10 (2.89 - 3.31), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic Level (Ref.
69278): 3.1 ±0.27 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=1.81).
Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100) .