Top Results for Photophores

The Dana octopus squid is a large, deep-sea squid belonging to the family Octopoteuthidae, reaching up to 1.7 meters in length. As it matures, it loses its two feeding tentacles, leaving it with eight arms, two of which bear massive photophores at the tips. It is one of the largest known bioluminesc...

Stauroteuthis syrtensis is a deep-sea cirrate octopus found in the North Atlantic, where it inhabits dark waters far below the surface. Structures associated with its suckers have developed into photophores that produce blue-green light, an unusual adaptation among octopuses. The light may help attr...

The silver hatchetfish (*Argyropelecus aculeatus*) is a small, deep-sea marine fish belonging to the family Sternoptychidae. Found globally in mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones, the species is highly adapted to low-light environments, utilizing bioluminescent ventral photophores for counter-illumin...

The Common Hatchetfish (Argyropelecus olfersi) is a small, mesopelagic deep-sea fish recognized for its distinctly laterally compressed, silver body. It possesses specialized ventral photophores that produce bioluminescence, a biological adaptation used for counter-illumination to hide its silhouett...

Sternoptyx hatchetfishes use highly reflective, guanine-crystal ventral surfaces to scatter downwelling light, concealing their silhouette from deeper predators looking upward.

The Pacific hatchetfish, Argyropelecus affinis, is a small deep-sea fish in the family Sternoptychidae, distributed through tropical and subtropical parts of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans. Its laterally compressed, silvery body has a deep chest that produces the characteristic hatchet-lik...

The half-naked hatchetfish (Argyropelecus hemigymnus) is a small, deep-sea marine fish belonging to the family Sternoptychidae. It derives its common name from its distinctive morphology, which features a deep, blade-like body that notably lacks scales on the posterior half. This species inhabits th...

Pearlsides are small marine fish belonging to the genus Maurolicus, which is part of the family Sternoptychidae (hatchetfishes). These fish are mesopelagic, meaning they inhabit the middle depths of the ocean, typically performing daily vertical migrations. They are characterized by their silvery, r...

The metallic lanternfish (family Myctophidae) is a mesopelagic species with iridescent scales that undertakes diel vertical migrations as part of the deep scattering layer.

The patchwork lanternfish is a mesopelagic member of family Myctophidae identified by its distinctive patch-like arrangement of bioluminescent photophores across the body.

Showy bristlemouth is the common name for Cyclothone signata, a small ray-finned fish in the family Gonostomatidae. It belongs to Cyclothone, a genus of mesopelagic fishes whose members use photophores, light-producing organs, in the low-light zone of the open ocean. C. signata is distinguished in i...

A small bioluminescent mesopelagic fish (Phosichthyidae) found across the Pacific, using rows of ventral photophores for counterillumination camouflage against predators.

Luminous Roughy is a deep-sea beryciform fish capable of bioluminescence, found in southern-hemisphere mesopelagic to bathypelagic waters and related to the commercially fished orange roughy.