Electrona antarctica

{{Short description|Species of fish}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Fish8712.jpg

| status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Williams, A. |date=2019 |title=Electrona antarctica |volume=2019 |page=e.T130346041A130414300 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T130346041A130414300.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}

| taxon = Electrona antarctica

| authority = (Günther, 1878)

| synonyms = {{species list

| Scopelus antarcticus | Günther, 1878

| Myctophum antarcticum | (Günther, 1878)

| Scopelus colletti | Lütken, 1892 }}

| synonyms_ref = {{FishBase |genus=Electrona |species=antarctica |month=December |year=2019}}

}}

The Antarctic lanternfish or Electrona antarctica mainly inhabits the Antarctic deep, twilight zone. It is the dominant species in the Southern Ocean. Their life span is about 4–5 years and they mature after 2–3 years. Their maximum length is 12.5 cm. Their feeding depends upon area to area. Small fish primarily feed on copepods, euphausiid larvae, and hyperiids.Giovanni, T.M, Wing-Keong Ng, Douglas Redford Tocher. "Fish Oil Replacement and Alternative Lipid Sources in Aquaculture Feeds">"Alternative Marine Resources". Fish Oil Replacement and Alternative Lipid Sources in Aquaculture Feeds, 2011. This species is mainly the nektonic prey species of seabirds in open water."Species Composition and Distribution". Biology of the Southern Ocean, Second Edition, 2007. It is an important krill predator and serves as prey for a majority of seabirds.{{cite journal |last1=Greely |first1=T. M. |last2=Gartner Jr |first2=J. V. |last3=Torres |first3=J. J. |name-list-style=amp|title=Age and growth of Electrona antarctica (Pisces: Myctophidae), the dominant mesopelagic fish of the Southern Ocean |journal=Marine Biology |date=1999 |volume=133 |issue=1 |pages=145–158 |doi=10.1007/s002270050453|bibcode=1999MarBi.133..145G |s2cid=84126110 }} It is one of the southernmost fish species, being recorded as far south as 74°40′S in the Ross Sea.{{Cite web |url=http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/508228/1/Atlas_Chap.7-Duhamel_et_al_2014-F.pdf |title=Biogeographic Patterns of Fish |access-date=2020-03-24 |archive-date=2019-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214181231/http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/508228/1/Atlas_Chap.7-Duhamel_et_al_2014-F.pdf |url-status=dead }}