Lestidium Gilbert, 1905

Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Tsai, Song-Yu & Li, Hsing-Hui, 2019, The barracudina genera Lestidium and Lestrolepis of Taiwan, with descriptions of two new species (Aulopiformes: Paralepididae), Zootaxa 4702 (1), pp. 114-139 : 130

Lestidium Gilbert, 1905

Lestidium Gilbert, 1905:607 (type species: Lestidium nudum Gilbert, 1905 ).

Diagnosis. Body scaleless, except for the lateral line covered by a single row of scales; luminescent duct present, unbranched, originating from throat before the eye or under opercle; no light organ in front of eye; a luminescent duct along lower margin of orbit in some species; DFO from slightly before to well behind VFO; ventral adipose fin well developed between anus and anal fin; dorsal-fin rays 10; pectoral-fin rays 12–14; anal-fin rays 26–33; ventral adipose well-developed; vertebrae: prehaemal 36–41 and total 79–93. Dorsal surface light grayish to very dark; ventral ridge between pectoral and pelvic fins with pigments or not.

Remarks. The genus currently comprises five species, Lt. atlanticum from Atlantic Ocean, Lt. bigelowi from Indian Ocean, Lt. nudum from Hawaii, Lt. orientale sp. nov. from Taiwan and Japan; and Lt. prolixium from the western Pacific Ocean. Two other species from the western Pacific Ocean is being studied in a separated work (Ho, unpub. data). The generic status of Lt. bigelowi is still doubtful.