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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Bigeye smoothhead

Bajacalifornia megalops (Lütken, 1898)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Bajacalifornia megalops (Lütken, 1898)
Name authority
(Lütken, 1898)
Common name
Bigeye smoothhead
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Alepocephaliformes
Family
Alepocephalidae
Genus
Bajacalifornia
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. orderAlepocephaliformes
  11. familyAlepocephalidae Bonaparte, 1846
  12. genusBajacalifornia Townsend & Nichols, 1925
  13. speciesBajacalifornia megalops (Lütken, 1898)

Close classified relatives

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

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Bajacalifornia calcarata (Weber, 1913)AlepocephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bajacalifornia aequatoris Miya & Markle, 1993AlepocephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bajacalifornia microstoma Sazonov, 1988AlepocephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Sharpchin slickheadBajacalifornia burragei Townsend & Nichols, 1925AlepocephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bajacalifornia arcylepis Markle & Krefft, 1985AlepocephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 79 records assigned to Alepocephalidae.

Names & synonyms

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

Recorded nameSource status
Cyclothone megalops Lütken, 1898 Lütken, 1898synonym
Bajacalifornia drakei (Beebe, 1929) (Beebe, 1929)synonym
Bajacalifornia erimoensis Amaoka & Abe, 1977 Amaoka & Abe, 1977synonym
Bathytroctes drakei Beebe, 1929 Beebe, 1929synonym

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. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126687 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:5WCLM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.