Table 19. Body Proportions for Diaphus gigas and D. elucens from the Pacific 

 Ocean, and for D. elucens from from the North Atlantic Ocean 



*Data from Gilbert, 1913. 

 **Data from Nafpaktitis, 1968. 



Discussion 



Diaphus elucens may be conspecific with Diaphus perspicillatus (Ogilby, 1898), type local- 

 ity 31° 33' S, 159° 05' E. This species has seldom been reported in the literature, and the 

 available descriptions, including the original, are inadequate; two of the three extent figures 

 (to my knowledge) of the species shown the preorbital organs as only vaguely resembling those 

 of specimens of £>. elucens before me, although the general aspect of the body and the ar- 

 rangement of photophores are similar. Diaphus danae Taning, 1932), type locality: north of 

 New Zealand, was placed in synonymy with D. perspicillatus by Whitley ( 1933: 63, fig. 1 ) and 

 by Fraser-Brunner (1949); although the photophore patterns of these two species are much like 

 that of Z). elucens, the preorbital organs, as delineated, bear only a vague resemblance to those 

 ofD. elucens. The preorbital organs shown by Brauer (1906: 220, fig. 140) fori), elucens also 

 bear no resemblance to those of specimens I have seen, and none at all to those shown by the 

 respective authors for D. danae and D. perspicillatus. 



Munro (1967: 38, fig. 265) showed the preorbital organs of Z). perspicillatus to be very 

 similar to those of £>. elucens; unfortunately, most body photophores are indistinct in the figure 

 (a dark half-tone) but the overall pattern appears to be like that of D. elucens. Gilbert (1913: 

 93) indicated that the two species were synonymous, and these similarities lend some credence 

 to that indication. But as the original descriptions of Z). perspicillatus and D. danae did not 

 include numbers of gill rakers, it is not here possible to make further comparisons with D. 

 elucens, or to attempt a synonymy; therefore, until direct comparison of these species is made, 

 the name D. elucens is retained. 



Diaphus elucens 



(Brauer, 1904) 



Description 



D. 16(15-17); A. 15(16);P. 10-11; AO 6 (5) + 5 (4), total 11 (10); gill rakers 10 (9) 

 (16-19), total 28 (26-29); vertebrae 35 (34). 



-1-1-1-17 



121 



