Fish of the Valenciennellus genus of the Maurolicinae subfamily of the Sternoptychidae (marine hatchetfishes, or deep-sea hatchetfishes) family of the Gonostomatoidei suborder of the Stomiiformes order of the Stenopterygii superorder.
(Constellationfish. Photo by © Francesco Costa. fishbase.org)
Constellationfish (Valenciennellus tripunctulatus) was first described in 1871 by the Norwegian zoologist Laurits Martin Esmark (1806-1884).
Bathypelagic species. It occurs at the depth of 100-1.000 meters, usually 200-400 meters. The maximum recorded length is 3.1 cm. It feeds on zooplankton.
It is a permanent inhabitant of the southern part of the Adriatic Sea.
Names of constellationfish (Valenciennellus tripunctulatus) in other languages are as follows:
Valenciennello (Italian), Dreipunkt-Leuchtsardine (German), Атлантическая валенциеннелла (Atlanticheskaya valenciennella) (Russian), Trbobrošic vitki, Trbobrošic vitkan (Serbian, Croatian).