Norwegian record Half-naked hatchetfish

No official record yet

Villmarksliv's official list of Norwegian sport-fishing records has no record for Half-naked hatchetfish yet. The first registered fish that meets the rules becomes the record.

About Half-naked hatchetfish

Jan Fekjan (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The half-naked hatchetfish (Argyropelecus hemigymnus) is a tiny deep-sea fish with a tall, very thin body shaped rather like the blade of a hatchet. Its flanks are mirror-silver, and rows of light organs along the belly shine downwards, which in hatchetfishes is thought to camouflage them against the faint light from above. The large eyes point upwards. It rarely grows beyond about 4 cm. The species lives in the mid-water zone of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans and the Mediterranean; in the eastern Atlantic it ranges from waters north of the British Isles south to South Africa. It has been caught from the surface down to about 2,400 m but usually stays at 100–700 m, and many individuals move somewhat upwards at night. It feeds on small crustaceans in the plankton, especially ostracods and copepods. Hatchetfish are important food for larger deep-sea fish but have no fishing value. Norwegian Red List 2021: Not Applicable (NA).

Sources: Artsdatabanken, Store norske leksikon, Wikipedia, Fishes of Australia, adriaticnature.com

• Habitat: Saltvann
• Red list status: NA (2021)

See the species guide

Biggest Half-naked hatchetfish in FishComp

Caught a Half-naked hatchetfish? Log it in FishComp.

How to register a Norwegian record

1. Norwegian sport-fishing records are registered with Villmarksliv, not with FishComp. Read the rules before you do anything else with the fish.
2. Records are based on weight and approved by a jury. You give the weight and length, where it was caught, the gear you used and any witnesses.
3. Keep your photos and notes from the catch. Logging it in FishComp does not register a record.