Argyripnus

"Bristle-mouth fish" redirects here. This may also refer to the related genus Maurolicus or the family Gonostomatidae.

Argyripnus is an oceanic ray-finned fish genus in the marine hatchetfish family Sternoptychidae. They are commonly known as bristle-mouth fishes, but that may also refer to the related bristlemouth family (Gonostomatidae). A. iridescens is called "pearlside", which usually refers to the closely related genus Maurolicus.

Argyripnus Temporal range: Late Oligocene to Present 25–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Argyripnus ephippiatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Stomiiformes
Family:	Sternoptychidae
Subfamily:	Maurolicinae
Genus:	Argyripnus C. H. Gilbert & Cramer, 1897

Species

There are currently seven recognized species in this genus:^[1]

• Argyripnus atlanticus Maul, 1952
• Argyripnus brocki Struhsaker, 1973 (Brock's Bristle-mouth Fish)
• Argyripnus electronus Parin, 1992
• Argyripnus ephippiatus C. H. Gilbert & Cramer, 1897 (Gilbert & Cramer's Bristle-mouth Fish)
• Argyripnus hulleyi Quéro, Spitz & Vayne, 2009 (Reunion bristle-mouth fish)
• Argyripnus iridescens McCulloch, 1926 (Brilliant Pearlside)
• Argyripnus pharos Harold & Lancaster, 2003

Fossils of bristle-mouth fishes show that the genus was already distinct in the Late Oligocene, more than 23 million years ago.^[2]

References

1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2012). Species of Argyripnus in FishBase. February 2012 version.
2. Sepkoski (2002)

• Sepkoski, Jack (2002): [Argyripnus]. In: A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. HTML database excerpt