The softskin smooth-head (''Rouleina attrita''), also called the softskin slickhead, 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 ...

. Its specific name is from the Latin ''attrīta'' ("bruised, worn away"), presumably referring to the mutilated or decomposed state of the

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

Description

The softskin smooth-head is black, measuring up to . Its upper jaw reaches to behind the eye, and it has a

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

of 43–48 photophores. It has 43–46 vertebrae. Its scales are deciduous and its skin contains small fluid-filled compartments. Its eyes contain convexiclivate temporal foveae containing densely packed

ganglia A ganglion is a group of neuron cell bodies in the peripheral nervous system. In the somatic nervous system this includes dorsal root ganglia and trigeminal ganglia among a few others. In the autonomic nervous system there are both sympatheti ...

Habitat

The softskin smooth-head is engybenthic or

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 ...

, meaning that it swims near the seafloor, living at depths of . It has been recorded in all non-polar seas.

Behaviour

Its testes are ribbon-like, in convoluted folds but never in discrete

lobes Lobe may refer to: People with the name * Lobe (surname) Science and healthcare * Lobe (anatomy) * Lobe, a large-scale structure of a radio galaxy * Glacial lobe, a lobe-shaped glacier * Lobation, a characteristic of the nucleus of certain ...

. Its eggs are large, up to in diameter.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2039490 Platytroctidae Fish described in 1888 Taxa named by Léon Vaillant