Deep sea lizard fish

Deep sea lizard fish
	Bathysaurus species on a NOAA recording near Indonesia.
Systematics
Overcohort :	Clupeocephala
Cohort :	Euteleosteomorpha
Sub-cohort :	Neoteleostei
Order :	Lizardfish (Aulopiformes)
Family :	Bathysauridae
Genre :	Deep sea lizard fish
Scientific name of the family
	Bathysauridae
	Marshall , 1961
Scientific name of the genus
	Bathysaurus
	Günther , 1878

The deep-sea lizardfish ( Bathysaurus ) live on continental slopes and on the bottom of the deep sea . The fish have flat heads and an elongated body. The scales along the lateral line organ are enlarged. The dorsal fin has 15 to 18 fin rays , the anal fin 11 to 14, and the pectoral fins 15 to 17. An adipose fin may be present. Deep-sea lizardfish are hermaphrodites .

Systematics

The fish used to be counted among the lizard fish (Synodontidae), but are now the only genus of the Bathysauridae family. There are two types :

Bathysaurus ferox , 64 centimeters long, lives in all oceans at a depth of 600 to 3500 meters.
Bathysaurus mollis , 78 centimeters long, lives in all oceans between 50 ° north and 20 ° south latitude, with the exception of the eastern, tropical Pacific at a depth of 1550 to 4800 meters.

Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World , John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .

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