Rows of lights
Each kind has its own pattern of light organs, which helps them to find their own kind in the dark.
The deep sea
Lanternfish
Myctophidae
Small, silvery, big-eyed fish with rows of tiny lights along their sides and bellies.
- Size
- Mostly 5 to 15cm long
- Look for them
- All year round
- Where
- Every ocean, deep by day and near the surface at night
Shoal after you, lights twinkling. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Lanternfish
Good to know
Six things about lanternfish
The commonest fish
Lanternfish may be the most numerous fish on Earth. Together they outweigh all the fish that people catch.
The biggest journey
Every night they swim up hundreds of metres to feed, and sink back at dawn. It is the largest migration on the planet.
Hiding with light
Lights on the belly match the faint glow from above, so the fish casts no shadow.
A false sea floor
There are so many that ships' sonar once mistook the layer of fish for the bottom of the sea.
Food for everyone
Whales, dolphins, tuna, squid and seabirds all depend on lanternfish.
The real thing
Photos of lanternfish
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot them
You will not see them from the shore. At night, far out at sea, a torch held over the side may show their silver flashes.
How to help
Lanternfish carry carbon from the surface into the deep, which helps to slow climate change. Plans to fish them in bulk need great care.
Keep going