CalCOFI.io CalCOFI.io open data ecosystem
Family · accepted · checked 2026-08-05

Phosichthyidae

Lightfishes

WoRMS 125602ITIS 622313GBIF 2227key worms:125602
i

2026-08-05: itis_id 622313 via WoRMS external link

Silhouette · Yan Wong · CC0 1.0 · PhyloPic, drawn from Malacosteus niger

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 Phosichthyidae
Photo · Ken Graham · CC BY-NC 4.0 · inat NC

Lightfishes are small stomiiform fishes in the family Phosichthyidae They are bioluminescent fishes, possessing rows of photophores along their sides, with which they hunt planktonic invertebrates, especially krill, copepods, and planktonic amphipods.W CalCOFI holds 13 observations of it in 2 datasets between 1963 and 2012, as larva, across 2 taxa under it.R

13
observations
13
records
2
sampling events
1963–2012
years
2
datasets
1
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.

  • Mesopelagic Fish 1 obs · 1 events · 2011
    name used: Phosichthyidae · code Phosichthyidae
  • Ichthyoplankton 1 obs · 1 events · 2002 · larva
    name used: Phosichthyidae Lightfishes · code 1140

Under it · 1 taxon

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/.

Explorerdb-query
ERDDAPCalCOFI's own server, the Mesopelagic Fish table constrained to this taxon
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/sio_mesopelagic-fish.html?&taxon_key=%22worms:125602%22