It spends the daylight hours in deep water, rising at night to near the surface.

This fish was first described by the Scottish naturalist and arctic explorer John Richardson in 1845.

Notoscopelus resplendens is a small lanternfish, growing to a maximum length of 95 mm (3.7 in).

[3] Above the caudal peduncle there is a row of eight to nine luminous scale-like segments in adult males, but male fish lack luminous organs above the eye and on the cheek.

[3] This fish spends the day at depths of between 650 and 1,000 m (2,100 and 3,300 ft) and rises to the top 300 m (1,000 ft) at night; young individuals and transforming ones do not make this daily vertical migration.