Author: Bigelow and Schroeder, 1957
Field Marks:
Two spined dorsal fins, no anal fin, bladelike unicuspidate teeth in lower jaw and teeth with cusps and cusplets in upper jaw, conspicuous longitudinal rows of denticles, slender body, dark uniform colour with inconspicuous markings.
Diagnostic Features:
A slender-bodied lanternshark with a long tail, distance from pelvic insertions to ventral caudal origin about as long as from tip of snout to first gill openings, slightly less than distance between pectoral and pelvic bases, and slightly greater than interdorsal space; prespiracular length 1.6 times distance from spiracles to pectoral origins; distance between pectoral and pelvic bases short in adults, about 0.7 times head length; distance from snout tip to first dorsal spine about equal to distance from first dorsal spine to second dorsal rear tip. Gill openings very short, about as wide as spiracle, 1/3 eye length or less. Origin of first dorsal fin over inner margins of pectoral fins, first dorsal base considerably closer to pectoral bases than pelvics; interdorsal space very short, about as long as distance from snout tip to spiracles; second dorsal fin much larger than first but less than twice its area; distance between second dorsal base and upper caudal origin about 1.3 in interdorsal space; caudal fin long and slender, length of dorsal caudal margin about equal to head length. Lateral trunk denticles with slender, hooked conical crowns, wide-spaced and arranged in regular longitudinal rows on sides and dorsal surface of head, body, and tail; snout largely covered with denticles; no greatly enlarged denticles on flanks above pectoral fins. Distal margins of fins largely covered with skin, not fringed with naked ceratotrichia. Colour dark grey above, with underside of snout and abdomen abruptly black; with an elongated narrow black mark running above and behind pelvic fins, and other elongated black marks at caudal fin base and along its axis.
Geographical Distribution:
Western North Atlantic: North Carolina to northern Florida (USA), Honduras.
Habitat and Biology:
A little-known lanternshark, from the western Atlantic continental slopes on or near the bottom at about 366 m depth.
Size:
Maximum total length recorded 23 cm for an immature male, adults size unknown.
Interest to Fisheries: None.
Type material:
Holotype: US National Museum of Natural History USNM-158186, 196 mm female. Type Locality: Northeast coast of Florida, USA 29°48'N, 80°09'W, about 366 m depth.