Protoblepharon mccoskeri
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Protoblepharon mccoskeri, the Taiwanese flashlight fish, is a flashlight fish species found in the Northwest Pacific off of Taiwan's east coast. It can be found as deep as 300m.[1] It was first described in 2012 from a single specimen caught near Taiwan.[2]
| Protoblepharon mccoskeri | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Trachichthyiformes |
| Family: | Anomalopidae |
| Genus: | Protoblepharon |
| Species: | P. mccoskeri |
| Binomial name | |
| Protoblepharon mccoskeri H. C. Ho & G. D. Johnson, 2012 | |
Taxonomy
The first scientific description of the Taiwanese flashlight fish was authored in 2012 by ichthyologists Hsuan-Ching Ho and G. David Johnson. Its generic name derives from Greek protos, meaning "the first," and blepharon, meaning "eyelid." The species is named mccoskeri after Dr. John E. McCosker, a senior scientist at the California Academy of Sciences.[2][3]
Description
The Taiwanese flashlight fish has a thick body and relatively small, bulging eyes. Its head has very few scales. It differs from P. rosenblatti, its only congener in that it has a deeper body, shorter snout, smaller light organ, and larger cup under the eye. There are about 260 rows of scales along its body. It is a reddish black color[2] and can reach lengths of up to 30.5 cm.[1]
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