ribbon sawtail fish

Open encyclopedia reference

The ribbon sawtail fish, Idiacanthus fasciola, is a barbeled dragonfish of the family Stomiidae, found around the world at depths over 500 m (1,640 ft) between latitudes 40° N and 54° S. Length is up to 38 cm (15 in) in general for the female, and 15 cm (5.9 in) for the male (generally between 81 and 85 vertebrae). The males of this species are developed to a lesser degree, as usual for Idiacanthus. While female specimen have a dark brown to black colour, males are usually of a lighter colour between dark brown to pale. The larval form, which has eyes on periscopic stalks, was originally identified under the invalid name Stylophthalmus paradoxus. Its diet is carnivorous, preying on living and dead fish or meat.

Ethymology: Greek: edia = own, private + akantha: spine, thorn + Lat: fasciola ribbon, band

Wikipedia contributors, Ribbon sawtail fish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:32:48.357882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Idiacanthus fasciola Peters, 1877

Name authority

Peters, 1877

Common name

ribbon sawtail fish

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Stomiiformes

Family

Stomiidae

Genus

Idiacanthus

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderStomiiformes
11. familyStomiidae Bleeker, 1859
12. subfamilyIdiacanthinae Gill, 1893
13. genusIdiacanthus Peters, 1877
14. speciesIdiacanthus fasciola Peters, 1877

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Idiacanthus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 236 records assigned to Stomiidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Peters, W. (C. H.). (1877). Übersicht der während der von 1874 bis 1876 unter dem Commando des Hrn. Capitän z. S. Freiherrn von Schleinitz ausgeführten Reise S. M. S. Gazelle gesammelten und von der Kaiserlichen Admiralität der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften übersandten Fische. Monatsberichte Der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften Zu Berlin 1876, : 831–854. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3PCFF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.