White-spotted lantern fish


The white-spotted lantern fish, also called Rafinesque's lanternfish, is a species of fish in the family Myctophidae.

Etymology

Its specific name refers to the polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.
The name "doormat parkinglightfish" was coined by D. E. McAllister in his 1990 book A List of the Fishes of Canada, being one of many common names he conceived in the book. These common names were subsequently used in the Encyclopedia of Canadian Fishes by Brian W. Coad. In a review of Coad's book, Erling Holm remarked that many of the names coined by Mcallister differed significantly from the standard set by Robins et. al., deemed widely accepted, and promoted by the Committee on Names of Fishes. For the names of deep-sea fish, which are unlikely to have day-to-day use, Holm deemed the names "unnecessarily complex, easily misspelled, or downright silly".

Description

The white-spotted lantern fish is silvery in colour, spotted with photophores, with a maximum length of.

Habitat

Diaphus rafinesquii is bathypelagic or mesopelagic and oceanodromous, living at depths of in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. During the day, it is typically found at and at night, the adults are at and the young at.

Behaviour

Males are slightly larger; spawning is in autumn and winter.