posterior half of iris. Small scales of luminous tissue at bases of dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins, 

 and near base of pectoral fin in one species. 



Key to species ofBolinichthys in the eastern Pacific Ocean 



la. VLO far below lateral line, only slightly above midway between there and pelvic base. 

 VOj only slightly elevated, far below level of lower end of pectoral base. No luminous 



tissue on head or at bases of dorsal and pelvic fins B. supralateralis 



lb. VLO touching or very near lateral line. VO^ much elevated, about on level of lower end of 



pectoral base. Luminous tissue on head and at pelvic base 2 



2a. Luminous patches present above pectoral origin and below PVO,; 2 to 5 luminous scales at 

 bases of anterior rays of dorsal and anal fins. Infracaudal luminous gland reaches to or 



beyond last AOp. VLO two or three of its diameters below lateral line B. photothorax 



2b. No luminous patches above pectoral origin or below PVOi. One (usually) or 2 (rarely 3) 

 luminous scales at bases of dorsal and anal rays. Infracaudal luminous gland seldom 



reaches to (never beyond) last AOp. VLO on lateral line B. longipes 



The genus Bolinichthys was separated from the genus Lepidophanes Fraser-Brunner, 

 (1949) by Paxton (1972) primarily on the basis of characters stated in the "Key to Genera of 

 Family Myctophidae." Paxton's justifiable action restricted the genus Lepidophanes to two 

 known species, L. guntheri (Goode and Bean, 1896) and L. gaussi (Brauer, 1906); neither has 

 been reported from the Pacific Ocean. 



Bolin (1959) reduced all species now referrable to the genus Bolinichthys to synonyms of 

 Bolinichthys pyrsobolus (Alcock, 1890). However, the time-honored name pyrso6o/us will not 

 be used here for any of the eastern Pacific species of the genus Bolinichthys for a number of 

 reasons. Alcock described Scopelus pyrsobolus from the Indian Ocean, based on a single, 

 damaged female. The inadequate description and figure pertain in part to all subsequently 

 described species oi Bolinichthys. No luminous organs were shown in the figure, and Alcock 

 stated only that, "The luminous organs have been too much damaged for description: two 

 series, traversing the ventral half of the body on each side, still remain; two long luminous 

 organs occupy respectively the mid-dorsal and mid-ventral line close to the base of the caudal." 

 The "long" caudal organs may have been only a subjective interpretation by Alcock, for the 

 accompanying outline sketch shows the gland is short and much more like that oi Bolinichthys 

 than of Lepidophanes (the latter genus having long supracaudal glands). Despite these in- 

 adequacies in description by Alcock, all eastern Pacific specimens have heretofore been re- 

 ferred to "pyrsobolus." 



Nafpaktitis and Nafpaktitis (1969), reporting on western Indian Ocean material, could 

 not reconcile any of their specimens with Alcock's description and figure and chose to refer 

 them to two species more adequately described and illustrated, Bolinichthys longipes (Brauer, 

 1906) and B. photothorax (Parr, 1928), and to describe a new species, "Lepidophanes" indicus. 

 This choice is followed herein. 



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