Family · accepted · checked 2026-08-05

Melamphaidae

Bigscales

WoRMS 125599ITIS 166092GBIF 5906key worms:125599

2026-08-05: itis_id 166092 via WoRMS external link

Silhouette · Erika Schumacher · CC BY-NC 3.0 · PhyloPic, drawn from Beryx splendens

Size · not on record: no authority the fetcher reads carries a length for this taxon (a genus page could show the range of its species).

Photograph of Melamphaidae — Photo · Ken Graham · CC BY-NC 4.0 · inat NC

Ridgeheads, also known as bigscales, are a family of small, deep-sea beryciform fish. The family contains approximately 37 species in five genera; their distribution is worldwide, but ridgeheads are absent from the Arctic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.W CalCOFI holds 7,825 observations of it in 2 datasets between 1951 and 2023, as larva, across 13 taxa under it.R

7,825
observations: 7,825
records: 40
sampling events: 1951–2023
years: 2
datasets: 9
species under it: larva
life stages

Observed in
i
One row per dataset, one cell per year, darker with more observations — the same strip the front door draws per dataset. Each row ends with the name that dataset uses (dataset_taxon); the accepted name is written once, in the title above. A quiet pill marks a name the authority does not accept.

Ichthyoplankton 40 obs · 40 events · 1960–2022 · larva
name used: Melamphaidae Bigscales · code 395

Under it · 4 taxa

Ways in
i
Read from taxa.json of release v2026.09.11, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.

Explorer db-query

ERDDAPCalCOFI's own server, the Ichthyoplankton table constrained to this taxon

https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/swfsc_ichthyo.html?&taxon_key=%22worms:125599%22

Melamphaidae

Under it · 4 taxa

Ways iniRead from taxa.json of release v2026.09.11, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.

Ways in
i
Read from taxa.json of release v2026.09.11, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.