Abstract
A new species of Alepocephalidae, Leptoderma macrophthalmum n.sp., is described from one specimen caught in 2004 at about 2100 m depth at the Mid Atlantic Ridge, north of the Azores. Morphological and molecular evidence indicate a relationship closestto the Pacific species Leptoderma lubricum. The smooth-heads, family Alepocephalidae, comprise 96 valid species of epibenthic deep-sea fishes, distributed among 22 genera (Eschmeyer & Fricke 2011). The genus Leptoderma is currently considered to containfour valid species, all of which lack scales and typically have a tapering, eel-like body. While three of the species, Leptoderma retropinna Fowler, 1943, L. affinis Alcock, 1899, and L. lubricum Abe, Marumo & Kawaguchi, 1965 are known from the Indian and Pacific oceans, L. macrops Vaillant, 1886 is an Atlantic species. A fifth nominal species, L. springeri Mead & Bohlke, 1953 has been synonymised with L. macrops (Krefft 1973, Markle & Quero 1984, Markle & Sazonov 1990).
NSTL