Gonostomatidae

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Gonostomatidae is a family of deep-water marine fish, commonly named bristlemouths, lightfishes or anglemouths. It is a relatively small family, containing only eight genera and 32 species. However, bristlemouths make up for their lack of diversity with numbers: Cyclothone, with 12 species, is thought to be (along with Vinciguerria), the most abundant vertebrate genus in the world.

The first fossil record of this family dates to the Miocene epoch - and was discovered by L. S. Berg in 1958. The fish may be found in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, though species Cyclothone microdon may be found in Arctic waters. The look oddly long in appearance and have photophores. These photophores are aligned along the bottom of the fish — or bottom of the head — emitting green or red light. Their chief common name — bristlemouth — is after their odd equally-sized bristle teeth. Due to the depth — very little light penetrates, resulting in almost pitch blackness — as such, the fish is typically black to hide from prey.

Species

Some classifications include the genera Pollichthys and Vinciguerria, but this article follows FishBase in placing them in the family Phosichthyidae.

Some classifications include species in the genus Zaphotias, but these are junior synonyms of the species Bonapartia pedaliota.

• Genus Bonapartia
• * Bonapartia pedaliota Goode & Bean, 1896.
• Genus Cyclothone
• * Benttooth bristlemouth, Cyclothone acclinidens Garman, 1899.
• * Cyclothone alba Brauer, 1906.
• * Deep-water bristlemouth, Cyclothone atraria Gilbert, 1905.
• * Garrick, Cyclothone braueri Jespersen & Tåning, 1926.
• * Cyclothone kobayashii Miya, 1994.
• * Cyclothone livida Brauer, 1902.
• * Veiled anglemouth, Cyclothone microdon (Günther, 1878).

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