''Thalassobathia pelagica'' is a species of fish in the family

Bythitidae The viviparous brotulas form a family, the Bythitidae, of ophidiiform fishes. They are known as viviparous brotulas as they generally viviparity, bear live young, although there are indications that some species (at least ''Didymothallus crinicep ...

(viviparous brotulas). It is sometimes referred to by the common name pelagic brotula.

Description

''Thalassobathia pelagica'' has a maximum length of . It has 72–79 dorsal

soft rays Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fish. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology co ...

, 58–65 anal soft rays and 22–29 pectoral soft rays. It has 7 branchiostegal rays and its head and body are compressed.

Habitat

''Thalassobathia pelagica'' 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 ...

, living at depths of in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Two specimens have been collected between Iceland and Ireland, and one from the Gulf of Guinea. It has also been reported from Greenland and Iceland. A specimen from the Bering Sea has uncertain identification as this species.

Behaviour

''Thalassobathia pelagica'' lives in close association with the sea jelly '' Stygiomedusa gigantea''.

References

Bythitidae Fish described in 1963 Taxa named by Daniel Morris Cohen {{ophidiiformes-stub