Common names
Tollo lucero diablo, Sagre lucifer, Blackbelly lantern shark, Blackbelly lanternshark, Lucifer dogfish, Lucifer shark, Luminous shark, Lixinha-de-fundura lucifera

Short Description
A moderately small Etmopterus of the E. lucifer group by showing elongated anterior and posterior branches of lateral flank marking, and differing from other members of the E. lucifer group by the following combination of characters: hooklike dermal denticles not overlapping each other, in well-defined rows; origin of second dorsal fin anterior to flank-marking base origin; infracaudal marking not connected with caudal-fin base marking through luminous lines; posterior caudal-fin marking long, its length 23.1–39.8% caudal-fin length; and ventral pectoral marking knife-shaped, straight (after Ng et al. (2025)) [34277]

Distribution
Northwestern Pacific, from sub-boreal northern Japan to the tropical South China Sea, at depths of 300–500 m. Common in Japanese waters and around Taiwan, but seems rare in the northern South China Sea [34277]
Note on the gbif records: The map does not take into account the taxonomic changes from Ng et al. (2015)! [34277] Source: www.gbif.org

Human uses
fisheries: of no interest

Biology
Presumably ovoviviparous [1388]. Size at birth about 15 cm [1388]. Distinct pairing with embrace [17086]. Found on the outer continental and insular shelves and upper slopes [518] (Ref. 75154). Benthopelagic at 183-823 m [17640]. Its luminescent belly may attract prey [578], which consists mainly of squid (reported to bite squid bigger than itself), small bony fishes, and shrimps [518]. Often caught in large schools which may suggest that the luminescence may also be used to keep the group together in the dark deep ocean [578]. Feeds om myctophids and cephalopods (Ref. 58748).

Size / Weight / Age
Largest examined mature male is 371 mm TL. One female reported to attain about 450 mm TL (Dolganov 2006). Schaaf-Da Silva and Ebert (2006) considered the largest female paratype of E. burgessi (CAS 223477, 405 mm TL) to be mature, however, the gonads of this specimen were not available for observation as it was not dissected, thus, the maturity cannot be determined by us. No mature female was examined in the present study. The lectotype (designated herein) represents the smallest mature male examined (264 mm TL). The size at birth is about 131 mm TL. [34277]

Habitat
benthopelagic; marine; depth range 300–500 m [34277]

Dentition
Descripion: Teeth dissimilar in upper and lower jaw, exhibiting ontogenetic change and sexual dimorphism; upper teeth multicuspid in three functional series; lower teeth unicuspid, in three series, one functional; lower teeth blade-like, with strongly oblique cusp. No distinctive symphyseal and intermediate teeth. Upper teeth cusp thick; immature males and females with 1–2, rarely 3 cusplets on each side of the upper teeth, while mature males having 3, rarely 2 or 4 cusplets; longest cusplet length about twothird of the cusp in mature individuals; cusp and cusplets of upper teeth narrowly triangular, lower teeth of mature individuals not erected. Tooth count of upper jaw 22–28 (25), lower jaw 25–35, total count 47–62 [34277]

Remarks
shark-references Species-ID=2177; Links:

digital version of the original description of E. lucifer: JORDAN, D.S. & SNYDER, J.O. 1902: Descriptions of two new species of squaloid sharks from Japan. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 25 (1279): 79-81"

digital version of the original description of E. abernethyi: GARRICK, J.A.F. 1957: Studies on New Zealand Elasmobranchii. Part VI. Two new species of Etmopterus from New Zealand. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 116 (3): 169-190"

species description at Digital Fish Library

Parasites (arranged by Jürgen Pollerspöck)
Cestoda

• Plesiorhynchus etmopteri Beveridge, 1990 [16251] [16112]

Copepoda

• Neoalbionella etmopteri (Yamaguti, 1939) [16562]