Melanostomias dio, Horns-up dragonfish

Melanostomias dio Villarins, Fischer, Prokofiev & Mincarone, 2023

Horns-up dragonfish
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Stomiiformes (Lightfishes and dragonfishes) > Stomiidae (Barbeled dragonfishes) > Melanostomiinae
Etymology: Melanostomias: Greek, melan, -anos = black + Greek, stoma = mouth (Ref. 45335); dio: Name 'dio' in honor of late Ronald James Padavona, professionally known as Ronnie James Dio, for popularizing the hand gesture commonly referred to as horns up, in allusion to the shape of the terminal bulb on the chin barbel of the new species.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range ? - 440 m (Ref. 137820). Tropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Southwest Atlantic: Brazil.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 18.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 137820)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 16; Anal soft rays: 19; Vertebrae: 55. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following set of characters: chin barbel ending in a prominent terminal bulb with the barbel stem not extending below the bulb as a separate termination; two relatively large, slender membranous appendages arising bilaterally from the distal margin of the bulb (Ref. 137820).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Villarins, B.T., L.G. Fischer, A.M. Prokofiev and M.M. Mincarone, 2023. A new species of the Dragonfish genus Melanostomias (Stomiidae: Melanostomiinae) from the Western Tropical Atlantic. Ichthyol. Herpetol. 111(2):254-263. (Ref. 137820)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

Not Evaluated 

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |