Preliminary Investigations on the Evolution of the Tribe Electronini (Myctophiformes, Myctophidae)

Abstract

Lanternfishes are the most speciose family of oceanic teleosts [1]. Stiassny [2] has provided the most recent generic analysis. More than 35 myctophid species are known to occur in the Southern Ocean [3], They are distributed offshore of the continental shelf break and form the dominant component of mesopelagic fish biomass in the Southern Ocean [4]. A cladogram for Southern Ocean myctophids is lacking, but there is reason to suspect that speciation in this region arose through a series of vicariance events [5–8].