Revision of the genus chiasmodon (acanthomorpha: Chiasmodontidae), with the description of two new species

Abstract

Chiasmodon is a genus of meso- and bathypelagic fishes, commonly known as swallowers. The genus has a wide distribution in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans. Five species previously described are considered valid and two are described as new: C. niger, from tropical North Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean; C. subniger from the eastern Pacific; C. braueri from the Indian, western and Central Pacific, and western South Atlantic; C. microcephalus, from southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific, and the Southern Ocean; C. pluriradiatus from tropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific; C. asper n. sp., from the temperate North Pacific; and C. harteli n. sp., from the temperate North Atlantic. Chiasmodon bolangeri is considered a junior synonym of C. niger, and C. lavenbergi a junior synonym of C. pluriradiatus. Taxonomic keys to the family Chiasmodontidae and to the species of Chiasmodon, as well as updated maps of distribution are provided. © 2009 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.