Genus: Benthodesmus, Frostfish Scabbardfish, Frostfishes

BENTHODESMUS

FROSTFISHES

Body extremely elongate and compressed; upper head profile rises smoothly from tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin; nape without a central, longitudinal crest; lower rear edge of gill cover convex; lower jaw projecting; tips of both jaws with a short skin knob in large fish; jaws with front fangs and slightly compressed side teeth; roof of mouth with 1 row of teeth on each side, none in center; gill rakers on first arch spiny; dorsal fin with long base, XXXI – XLVI, 68 -112, partially divided by a shallow notch, base of spinous part about ½ length of base of soft part; anal fin II (close-set, 1st rudimentary, not visible in adults, 2nd comb-like, delicate, well forwards of rest of fin), 64 – 102, rays vary from all developed to only on rear part of fin; pectorals 12; pelvic fins minute, with a scale-like spine & a rudimentary soft ray; tail fin small, forked.

Worldwide in temperate and tropical oceans; 11 named species; two in the Greater Caribbean, one in the eastern Pacific