The blackhead salmon (''Narcetes stomias'') is a species of fish in the family

Alepocephalidae Slickheads, also known as nakedheads or smoothheads, are deep water fishes that belong to the family Alepocephalidae. They are most commonly found in the bathypelagic layer, which is approximately 3000m below the surface. They get their name from ...

(slickheads).

Classification

Despite the common name, it is not a true salmon, which are in the genus '' Salmo'' and are in the distant Salmoniformes order. Its specific name is from Greek στομίας (''stomias'', "hard-mouthed").

Description

The blackhead salmon is blackish in colour. Its maximum length is .

Habitat

The blackhead salmon lives in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean; it is

bathypelagic The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic ...

or benthopelagic, living at depths of .

Reproduction

The blackhead salmon lays eggs of up to in diameter. The trematode worm '' Olssonium turneri'' (family Fellodistomidae) is a parasite upon it.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2846803 Alepocephalidae Fish described in 1890 Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert