Pseudocetonurus septifer is a species of rattail, the only known species in the genus Pseudocetonurus. This fish is found at depths of up to 950 m in the waters around Hawaii and in the south-eastern Pacific. It has recently also been recorded on the other side of the Pacific, near Taiwan, and this species probably has a pan-Pacific distribution but has been underrecorded due to the depths in which it lives.

This species attains a length of up to 39 cm. It is unique among rattails in having 7 branchiostegal rays and a large gill opening. This is a generally very dark, sometimes black, fish with a very large head and small, widely spaced eyes. There is a small bioluminescent organ located between the pelvic fins.

Pseudocetonurus septifer

References

A new species, Caelorinchus sheni, and 19 new records of grenadiers (Pisces: Gadiformes: Macrouridae) from Taiwan - CHIOU Mei-Luen ; SHAO Kwang-Tsao ; IWAMOTO Tomio

Pseudocetonurus septifer

Macrouridae

Monotypic fish genera

Taxa named by Yuri Igorevich Sazonov

Taxa named by Yuri Nikolaevich Shcherbachev

Fish described in 1982

Fish of the Pacific Ocean

Pseudocetonurus septifer