daggertooth

Open encyclopedia reference

The daggertooth (Anotopterus pharao, meaning "without fins on its back, of the Pharaoh") is a species of daggertooth. Its distribution includes the North Atlantic Ocean and west of Africa. The record size for this species is 96 cm and was hermaphroditic.

Daggertooths are occasionally found dead in bottom trawls used for firefly squid or shrimp. They are similar to needlefish or gars. However, they are distinct. Netted daggertooth specimens are rarely identifiable, mostly because of their soft bodies, which are easily torn or flattened. This is typical of benthic animals of the deep ocean, like some transparent squids. In fact, the bodies are so soft, when pushed against the back of a trawl net, they often die because their organs are crushed and they rip. The habitat of the daggertooth is the open abyss, where few obstacles occur with which to come into physical contact.

Wikipedia contributors, Anotopterus pharao; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:40:30.058687+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Anotopterus pharao Zugmayer, 1911

Name authority

Zugmayer, 1911

Common name

daggertooth

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Aulopiformes

Family

Anotopteridae

Genus

Anotopterus

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. orderAulopiformes
11. suborderAlepisauroidei
12. familyAnotopteridae Zugmayer, 1911
13. genusAnotopterus Zugmayer, 1911
14. speciesAnotopterus pharao Zugmayer, 1911

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 3 records assigned to Anotopteridae.

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. Zugmayer, E. (1911). Diagnoses de poissons nouveaux provenant des campagnes du yacht “Princesse-Alice” (1901 à 1910). Bulletin de l’Institut Océanographique (Monaco), No. 193: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.55724 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:5V8FH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.