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iNat·85582FamilyActinopterygii29 field observations
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  6. ›Lanterneyes, fangtooths and allies
Lanterneye Fishes
Plate 1 of 2. (c) Mark Rosenstein, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Mark Rosenstein · via iNaturalist

Lanterneye Fishes

Anomalopidae

Anomalopidae (lanterneye fishes or flashlight fishes) are a family of fish distinguished by bioluminescent organs located underneath their eyes, for which they are named. These light organs contain luminous bacteria and can be "shut off" by the fish using either a dark lid or by being drawn into a pouch. They are used to communicate, attract prey, and evade predators.

Flashlight fish are found in tropical ocean waters across the world. They are typically about 14 cm (5.5 in) in size, although some species can reach twice this length. They are nocturnal, feeding at night on small crustaceans. Some species move to shallow waters near coral reefs at night, but otherwise, they are exclusively deep water fish. This tends to make their collection difficult, and as such they are a poorly understood group.

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 85582.