Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Genus Malacosteus | |
Similar Malacosteus niger, Aristostomias, Photostomias |
The Southern stoplight loosejaw, Malacosteus australis, is a species of barbeled dragonfish. This species is mainly distinguished from M. niger by a smaller postorbital photophore in both sexes and lower numbers of lateral photophores. It also differs in having somewhat smaller jaws, a fleshy orbit, and several subtle morphological traits. The maximum known length is 16.6 cm (6.5 in) for a male and 19.2 cm (7.6 in) for a female. Its specific epithet comes from the Latin austral, meaning "southern".
References
Malacosteus australis Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA