Greeneyes are deep-sea
aulopiformAulopiformes is an order of marine ray-finned fish consisting of some 15 extant and several prehistoric families with about 45 genera and over 230 species. The common names grinners, lizardfishes and allies or aulopiforms are sometimes used for this group...
marine fishes in the small family
Chlorophthalmidae. Thought to have a circumglobal distribution in tropical and temperate waters, the family contains just 18 species in two genera. The family name
Chlorophthalmidae derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
words
chloros meaning "green" and
ophthalmos meaning "eye".
Some species are of interest to commercial and subsistence
fisheriesGenerally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish, which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of...
; the fish are made into
fish mealFish meal, or fishmeal, is a commercial product made from both whole fish and the bones and offal from processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by rendering pressing the cooked whole fish or fish trimmings to remove most of the fish oil and water, and then ground...
or sold fresh.
Aptly named after their disproportionately large,
iridescentIridescence is generally known as the property of certain surfaces which appear to change colour as the angle of view changes. Iridescence may be seen commonly in soap bubbles, butterfly wings and sea shells.- Description :...
(as well as fluorescent) eyes, greeneyes are slender fish with slightly compressed bodies.
Greeneyes are deep-sea
aulopiformAulopiformes is an order of marine ray-finned fish consisting of some 15 extant and several prehistoric families with about 45 genera and over 230 species. The common names grinners, lizardfishes and allies or aulopiforms are sometimes used for this group...
marine fishes in the small family
Chlorophthalmidae. Thought to have a circumglobal distribution in tropical and temperate waters, the family contains just 18 species in two genera. The family name
Chlorophthalmidae derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
words
chloros meaning "green" and
ophthalmos meaning "eye".
Some species are of interest to commercial and subsistence
fisheriesGenerally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish, which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of...
; the fish are made into
fish mealFish meal, or fishmeal, is a commercial product made from both whole fish and the bones and offal from processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by rendering pressing the cooked whole fish or fish trimmings to remove most of the fish oil and water, and then ground...
or sold fresh.
Physical description
Aptly named after their disproportionately large,
iridescentIridescence is generally known as the property of certain surfaces which appear to change colour as the angle of view changes. Iridescence may be seen commonly in soap bubbles, butterfly wings and sea shells.- Description :...
(as well as fluorescent) eyes, greeneyes are slender fish with slightly compressed bodies. The largest
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
, the Shortnose greeneye (
Chlorophthalmus agassizi) reaches a length of , but most other species are much smaller. Their heads are small with large jaws. The coloration ranges from a yellowish to blackish brown, and some species have cryptic blotches.
Their fins are simple and spineless; aside from their eyes, some species also have iridescent patches covering the head
Behaviour and reproduction
Greeneyes are generally deepwater fish, found from down to about . They seem to prefer the continental slopes and
shelvesThe continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and gulfs. The continental rise is below the...
, possibly forming schools. Greeneyes are known to primarily feed on
benthicBenthos are the organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone. They live in or near marine sedimentary environments, from tidal pools along the foreshore, out to the continental shelf, and then down to the abyssal depths....
invertebrates, as well as
pelagicAny water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek πέλαγος or pélagos, which means open sea....
crustaceans such as
decapodsThe decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Most decapods are scavengers.-Anatomy:...
and mysids.
Like many aulopiform fish, greeneyes are
hermaphroditicIn a biological context, a hermaphrodite is an animal or plant that has both male and female reproductive organs.Many taxonomic groups of animals , do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both partners can...
; this is thought to be a great advantage in deep-sea habitats, where the chances of running into a compatible mate are uncertain. Young and
larvaA larva is a young form of animal with indirect development, going through or undergoing metamorphosis ....
l greeneyes are pelagic rather than benthic, staying within the upper levels of the water column.
HakeThe term hake refers to fish in either of:* family Gadidae * family Merlucciidae .An old European source mentions a hake that was transplanted from the coast of Ireland to Cape Cod...
are known predators of greeneyes.
Classification
The genus
Bathysauroides is sometimes classified with the greeneyes, but this article follows
FishBaseFishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish. , it included descriptions of over 30,000 species, over 260,000 common names in hundreds of languages, over 46,000 pictures, and references to more than 42,000 works in the scientific literature....
in placing it in its own family, Bathysauroididae.
There are 18 species in two genera:
- Genus Chlorophthalmus
- Chlorophthalmus acutifrons Hiyama, 1940.
- Shortnose greeneye, Chlorophthalmus agassizi Bonaparte, 1840.
- Chlorophthalmus albatrossis Jordan
David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist , educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University....
& Starks, 1904.
- Atlantic greeneye, Chlorophthalmus atlanticus Poll, 1953.
- Spinyjaw greeneye, Chlorophthalmus bicornis Norman, 1939.
- Chlorophthalmus borealis Kuronuma & Yamaguchi, 1941.
- Chlorophthalmus brasiliensis Mead, 1958.
- Chlorophthalmus chalybeius (Goode, 1881).
- Chlorophthalmus corniger Alcock
Alfred William Alcock was a British physician naturalist and carcinologist.Alcock was the son of a sea-captain, John Alcock in Bombay, India who retired to live in Blackheath...
, 1894.
- Chlorophthalmus ichthyandri Kotlyar & Parin, 1986.
- Chlorophthalmus mento Garman
Samuel Walton Garman was a naturalist/ zoologist from Pennsylvania. He studied under Louis Agassiz. In 1868 he joined an expedition to the American West with John Wesley Powell. He was a friend and regular correspondent of the naturalist Edward Drinker Cope and in 1872 accompanied him on a fossil...
, 1899.
- Chlorophthalmus nigromarginatus Kamohara, 1953.
- Chlorophthalmus pectoralis Okamura & Doi, 1984.
- Chlorophthalmus proridens Gilbert & Cramer, 1897.
- Spotted greeneye, Chlorophthalmus punctatus Gilchrist, 1904.
- Chlorophthalmus zvezdae Kotlyar & Parin, 1986.
- Genus Parasudis
- Parasudis fraserbrunneri (Poll, 1953).
- Longnose greeneye, Parasudis truculenta (Goode & Bean, 1896).