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flashlight fish, also called lantern-eye fish, any of three species of fishes in the family Anomalopidae (order Beryciformes), characterized by the presence of luminescent organs just below the eye. They are among the few species of non-deep-sea fishes to possess such organs. Phosphorescent bacteria create the light continuously, but each species has its own mechanism for decreasing the luminescence; when swimming, some fishes create a blinking effect by alternately covering and uncovering the light. Each of the three species of lantern-eye fishes is in a separate genus. Two are found in tropical marine habitats of the Indo-Pacific region, and the third lives in the Caribbean. All are small, the maximum length being 30 cm (1 foot). The name lantern-eye fish refers most specifically to Anomalops kaptoptron and Photoblepharon palpebratus, both found in the East Indies.
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