User:LizetteAhlers/Gonostomatidae

Edits to Wikipedia page will include the following sections:

Edit the first paragraph where it states that there are 12 species of bristlemouths, however in the last years it has been determined that there are 13.

Feeding Habits
Brislemouths feed mostly on zooplankton and small crustaceans. Their diet is composed of a range from 92-98% of Crustacea. A minor part of their diet is made up an opportunistic encounter with smaller fish. Brislemouths that consume fish prey are found in individuals ranging from 70 mm to 75 mm. Bristlemouths do not have seasonal trends when it comes to their feeding habits.

Bristlemouths are diel vertical migrators, therefore migrating to closer to the surface waters in the nighttime order to find more food. Out of the twelve bristlemouth species, eight have been found near the surface therefore explaining their DVM behaviors.

Bristlemouths are able to efficiently capture their prey due to their bioluminescent nature.

Morphology
Bristlemouths are protandrous, therefore a male first hermaphrodite. They begin their lives as males and some of them switch to female. Male bristlemouths are smaller than females.

Bristlemouths have large jaws that are capable of catching larger prey than themselves. The length of the S. glarisianus's (a species of Bristlemouth) lower jaw is equaled to 70% of the entire length of their head. The lower jaw of the Bristlemouths is not functional in terms of masticating their prey. It is therefore hypothesized that they swallow their prey tail first.

Bristlemouths are extremely small, measuring at most 75 mm. Bristlemouths have elongated bodies, small eyes, short snouts, large mouths, and large jaws. The position of the dorsal fin begins in line with the anal fin. The difference between bristlemouths species is found in the intensity of their pigmentation and photophore size. For the majority of the species, the morphology remains the same.

Bristlemouths are mostly dark in pigmentation but at times can display translucently. Bristlemouths contain apineal organ which functions to detect slow changing ambient light. This allows the Bristlemouth to have control over its circadian clock and seasonal behavior.

Due to the small size of the fish, they are easy preys to dragon fish and fangtooths.

Bioluminescence
Bristlemouths are light emitting fish. Bristlemouths rely on their bioluminescence for different outcomes. Some rely on it to find prey while others use it to avoid predate. However, the most common way that their bioluminescence is used is to signal between fish in the same way people "dance or wear bright colors at the nightclub."

The following references will be used for the described information below:


 * Přikryl, Tomáš, Prokofiev, Artém M, & Krzemiński, Wiesław. (2012). Feeding habits of the Oligocene bristlemouth fish Scopeloides glarisianus (Teleostei: Stomiiformes: Gonostomatidae). Geobios, 45(4), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2011.10.012
 * What they feed on
 * Adaptations for feeding
 * DVM
 * Lancraft, T. M., Hopkins, T. L., & Torres, J. J. (1988). Aspects of the ecology of the mesopelagic fish Gonostoma elongatum(Gonostomatidae, Stomiiformes) in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Marine ecology progress series. Oldendorf, 49(1), 27-40.  https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/49/m049p027.pdf
 * Information about bristle mouths being DVMs
 * Nazarkin, M. V. (2015). Fossil bristlemouth Cyclothone mukhachevae sp. nov. (Stomiiformes: Gonostomatidae) from the Neogene of western Sakhalin, Russia. Paleontological Journal, 49(2), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030115020045
 * Morphological information of the bristlemouths
 * Broad, W. (2015, June 29). An Ocean Mystery in the Trillions. Retrieved September, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/science/bristlemouth-ocean-deep-sea-cyclothone.html
 * Bristlemouths predators
 * Bioluminescence use to avoid predation
 * Andrei, M. (2016, June 09). The world's oceans have way more light producing fish than we imagined. Retrieved September, 2020, from https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/bioluminiscent-fish/
 * Bioluminescence
 * Gaither, M.R., Bowen, B.W., Rocha, L.A. and Briggs, J.C. (2016), Fishes that rule the world: circumtropical distributions revisited. Fish Fish, 17: 664-679. doi:10.1111/faf.12136
 * Environment that Brislemouths inhabit
 * Bowmaker, James K., and Hans-Joachim Wagner. “Pineal Organs of Deep-Sea Fish: Photopigments and Structure.” Journal of Experimental Biology, The Company of Biologists Ltd, 15 June 2004. doi: 10.1242/jeb.01033
 * more information on bristle mouth's morphology and ability to detect light

References: