Malacosteus niger Ayres, 1848. Spotlight Loosejaw or Shortnose Loosejaw. To 24 cm (9.4 in) SL (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Circumglobal; western Pacific Ocean north to Japan (Fujii in Masuda et al. 1984); western Bering Sea northeast of Commander Islands (Balanov and Fedorov 1996); British Columbia (Gillespie 1993) to Chile (Pequeño 1989). Mesopelagic and bathypelagic; depth: surface to 3,886 m (12,824 ft) (min.: Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California; max.: Machida in Okamura and Kitajima 1984).