DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ZOOGEOGRAPHY

ECOLOGY

BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

VALUE OF FISH RESOURCES

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

DANGEROUS MARINE FISHES

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SPECIES INDEX

CHAMORRO NAMES

ANOMALOPIDAE (FLASHLIGHTFISHES)

Anomalops katoptron Bleeker (Flashlightfish)
SL: to 27 cm (photo: 25.5 cm SL, Guam)

The anomalopids are a primitive group of black fishes that possess a pair of luminous organs, one under each eye.  The lime-green light is produced biochemically by bioluminescent bacteria that live within the organ.  The fish is able to turn the light on or off by either moving a flap of skin over the organ (as in Photoblepheron) or by rotating the organ itself (as in Anomalops). The resulting flashes of light are presumably used to locate prey or to signal one another.  Anomalops katoptron, the largest species of flashlightfish, is occasionally collected by handline at depths from 200 to 400 m.  A smaller species (probably Photoblepheron palpebratus) has been observed by divers at night at the “Blue Hole”, a large cave in the face of a steep dropoff on the leeward coast of Guam.

INDO-PACIFIC: Widespread