CalCOFI.io CalCOFI.io open data ecosystem

Chauliodus macouni

Pacific viperfish

Speciesaccepted · checked 2026-08-05WoRMS 275055ITIS 162279GBIF 5203199key worms:275055
i

2026-08-05: itis_id 162279 via WoRMS external link

The Pacific viperfish (Chauliodus macouni), is a predatory deep-sea fish found in the North Pacific. It is reported as being either mesopelagic or bathypelagic, with diel vertical migration to shallower waters.W CalCOFI holds 2,890 observations of it in 2 datasets between 1951 and 2023, as larva.R

2,890
observations
2,890
records
2,890
sampling events
1951–2023
years
2
datasets
larva
life stages
25.4 cm
max length
Head of a pacific Viperfish caught during trawling operations. Image ID: fish4036, NOAA's Fisheries Collection Location: Alaska, Southeast Photo Date: 2001
Photo · David Csepp, NMFS/AKFSC/ABL · Public domain · commons

Observed in 2 datasets
i

One row per dataset, and beside it 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.

  • 2,877 obs2,877 events1951–2023larva
    name used: Chauliodus macouni Pacific viperfish · code 156
  • 13 obs13 events2010–2012
    name used: Chauliodus macouni · code Chauliodus macouni

Ways inExplorerdb-queryERDDAPRPythonThis page as JSON

Code and endpoints ERDDAP · R · Python · JSON
ERDDAPCalCOFI's own server, the Ichthyoplankton table constrained to this taxon
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/swfsc_ichthyo.html?&taxon_key=%22worms:275055%22

Read from taxa.json of release v2026.10.20, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.

How big is it 25.4 cm max · egg 2.7–3.2 mm
Pacific viperfish25.4 cm
bongo net ring71 cm

max · worms_attribute

Every mark is a measured length with its own source — hover one to read it. The reference objects are _data/size_reference.csv: two of them, the 505 µm bongo mesh and the net's ring, are CalCOFI's own sampling gear.

Life stages larva
  • Ichthyoplankton larva

The stages each dataset records for it, from the release's obs_bio.life_stage. Their lengths are under How big is it.

Lineage 13 ranks · Biota to Chauliodus
Credits silhouette · photo · text · length · plate
  • Silhouette · César Camilo Julián Caballero · CC BY 3.0 · PhyloPic, drawn from Chauliodus danae · source
  • Photo · David Csepp, NMFS/AKFSC/ABL · Public domain · commons · source
  • Text · Wikipedia, “Pacific viperfish” · CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1370867228
  • Length · worms_attribute
  • Plate · Matarese, Kendall, Blood & Vinter 1989, NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 80, via the AFSC Ichthyoplankton Information System · Public domain (US Government work) · noaa_iis · source
Elsewhere Wikidata · iNaturalist · FishBase

WikidataiNaturalistFishBase

The same organism on the services the faces were fetched from; the authorities' own pages are the ids in the head.

Cite the release, v2026.10.20

Cite the release, v2026.10.20; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page. How to cite ↗