Phosichthyidae

Marranzino, Ashley N & Webb, Jacqueline F, 2018, Flow sensing in the deep sea: the lateral line system of stomiiform fishes, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 183 (4), pp. 945-965 : 952

Family Phosichthyidae

Ichthyococcus ovatus (Cocco, 1838) has broad, flat bones (unlike the needle-like bones in other taxa) that are quite thin and difficult to differentiate from soft tissue in µCT reconstructions. Both fully and partially ossified lateral line canals are present ( Table 1). Canal pores are absent in the frontal bone, but a longitudinal bony ridge is present ( Fig. 3B ) suggesting that an enclosed, but partially ossified, SO canal is present (similar to Argyropelecus ). The PO canal is ossified with one prominent bony pore ventrally, but in lateral view, µCT cannot resolve the canal, so it was interpreted as being weakly ossified or only partially ossified. A trough in what appears to be the dentary bone was interpreted as an incompletely ossified MD canal.

Figures

Figure 3. Longitudinal bony ridges on the dorsal surface of head in representative stomiiform genera. Ridges