Hatchetfish (Creatures of the Deep by Safari Ltd.)

Walk-around of the Safari Ltd. Creatures of the Deep Hatchetfish, cf. Argyropelecus sp. (but read on), originally produced in 1997. Total Length (TL) is 132 mm and Standard Length (SL, so without the caudal fin) is 111 mm. Since I wouldn’t go so far to try to identify it to species level the scale may be anywhere between approx. 1:0.3 and 1:1. I disagree with the tag which identifies it as Sternoptyx diaphana, Hermann, 1781 – apart from the eyes (which admittedly do resemble those of Sternoptyx) most other characters (e.g. body shape, dorsal fin, arrangement of photophores) suggest it represents an Argyropelecus sp. instead. This figure is another example of how nice the phosphorescent effect may look in the dark when glow-in-the-dark spots are added. Like the whole series of phosphorescent deep-sea fish by Safari Ltd. it’s long discontinued but can be found occasionally on eBay.