Silver spinyfin

Diretmus argenteus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth300–1,133 m
Water temperature7–29 °C
Best monthsApril and June
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

About this species

The silver spinyfin is a deep-sea spinyfin found across the world’s oceans at depths reaching about 2,000 m. It belongs to the family Diretmidae and is the only species in the genus Diretmus. Adults usually reach 13–40 cm in length depending on the measurement type.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Silver spinyfin”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 34 records
February: 39 records
March: 37 records
April: 41 records
May: 32 records
June: 67 records
July: 38 records
August: 31 records
September: 23 records
October: 26 records
November: 22 records
December: 37 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 300–1,133 m · Deepest record: 5,070 m

0–10 m: 5 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110+ m: 560 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 7–29 °C

6–8 °C: 6 records
8–10 °C: 8 records
10–12 °C: 33 records
12–14 °C: 61 records
14–16 °C: 43 records
16–18 °C: 51 records
18–20 °C: 26 records
20–22 °C: 64 records
22–24 °C: 36 records
24–26 °C: 8 records
26–28 °C: 15 records
28–30 °C: 2 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Silver spinyfin, Spinyfin, Discfish, Little Dory, Silver Discfish, silver spinyfin, Silver Spinyfish, Slimehead, spinyfin, Spiny-fin

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: Malcarado Plateado, Pez disco plateado
French: Dirette Argentée, Dirette argentée, Rayon épineux, Rayon Épineux
Japanese: フチマルギンメ
Simplified Chinese: 洞鰭鯛, 藍皮刀, 銀眼鯛, 黑銀眼鯛

Other scientific names: Diretmus aureus, Discus aureus, Gyrinomene nummeralis, Gyrinomene nummularis

Similar species

Parin's discfish
Diretmichthys parini
Longwing Spinyfin
Diretmoides pauciradiatus
Diretmoides veriginae

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,165 open-data records from 1864 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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