Hatchetfish

Sternoptyx pseudobscura

This is the largest member of the genus, often exceeding 55 mm SL (Baird, 1971). S. pseudobscura was rare in the Ocean Acre area and was completely absent from discrete-depth samples.

Three specimens were taken in open nets, all in late summer. A 36 mm male was taken in an Engel trawl towed at 0–1025 m. The remaining two specimens were IKMT captures. One, a 14 mm juvenile, was captured in a tow from 0–1003 m, while the other, a juvenile 16 mm SL, was taken at 0–1435 m.

Both the rarity and capture depths of S. pseudobscura in our study area agree with the findings of Badcock and Baird (1980), who showed that this species is uncommon in the western North Atlantic, where S. diaphana is abundant, and that S. pseudobscura is consistently deeper wherever the two species are sympatric.