Malacosteinae

Villarins, Bárbara T., Dario, Fabio Di, Eduardo, Leandro N., Lucena-Frédou, Flávia, Bertrand, Arnaud, Prokofiev, Artem M. & Mincarone, Michael M., 2022, Deep-sea dragonfishes (Teleostei: Stomiiformes) collected from off northeastern Brazil, with a review of the species reported from the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, Neotropical Ichthyology (e 220004) 20 (2), pp. 1-78 : 40

Malacosteinae

Members of the Malacosteinae can be recognized in the Stomiidae by the body moderately elongate; scales absent; snout short; mouth large to extremely large, jaws longer than skull; skin between mandibles absent, except in Pachystomias Günther, 1887 ; dorsal-fin origin over anal-fin origin and located far behind pelvic-fin origin; adipose fins absent; chin barbel present in most species, simple, without a complex distal tip; pectoral fin present or absent; 14–28 dorsal-fin rays; 17–32 anal-fin rays; caudal fin small, forked; one or more accessory orbital photophores anterior to orbit that often produces red light. Three genera (Nelson et al., 2016; Kenaley, Stewart, 2015g; Fricke et al., 2022).