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Teleostei (teleosts) > Stomiiformes (Lightfishes and dragonfishes) > Stomiidae (Barbeled dragonfishes) > Melanostomiinae
Etymology: Photonectes: Greek, photos = light + Greek, nekton = swimmer (Ref. 45335); paxtoni: Named for Dr. John Paxton for his many contributions to the study of mesopelagic fishes and his encouragement to the authors.
Eponymy: Dr John Richard Paxton (d: 1938) is an American-born Australian ichthyologist. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

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

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; depth range 130 - 135 m (Ref. 92891). Tropical

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Western Pacific Ocean; Papua New Guinea.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 2.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 92891)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 16 - 18; Anal soft rays: 18. This species is distinguished from other members of the subgenus Photonectes in the following set of characters: short barbel with a very enlarged ovoid terminal bulb without terminal appendages; no blue luminous tissue; reduced length of gill filaments on first branchial arch, less than arch depth; VAV photophores 15-16 (vs. 0-15), AC photophores 13 (vs. 9-12), IV photophores 29 (vs. 30-46); bulb is plain (without filaments) and remarkably large. This species is similar to P. ovibarba (synonym of P. braueri) in having an enlarged bulb but is without pectoral fins (vs. present, with 2 rays each), IV photophores 29 (vs. 32-33), AC photophores 13 (vs. 10-12), the bulb has no terminal appendage (vs. bearing a small ovoid appendage); from another species with a large bulb, P. fimbria (synonym of P. parvimanus), IV photophores 29 (vs. 43-49), IP photophores insert halfway along the isthmus, or with gap (vs. insert near mandibular symphysis or no gap), no thick skin (vs. thick skin over dorsal- and anal-fin rays), no flap or terminal appendage; growth change unknown (vs. bulb with terminal flap increasing with growth) (Ref. 92891).

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

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Flynn, A.J. and C. Klepadlo, 2012. Two new species of Photonectes (Teleostei: Stomiidae) from the Indo-Pacific, and a re-examination of P. achirus. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 69: 259-267. (Ref. 92891)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Data deficient (DD) ; Date assessed: 15 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00302 (0.00116 - 0.00786), b=3.12 (2.89 - 3.35), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.1 ±0.5 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Photonectes paxtoni Flynn & Klepadlo, 2012