Chaunacops | |
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Chaunacops coloratus at the Davidson Seamount | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Lophiiformes |
Family: | Chaunacidae |
Genus: | Chaunacops Garman, 1899 |
Type species | |
Chaunax coloratus Garman, 1899 [1] | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Chaunacops is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Chaunacidae, the sea toads. This genus of deep-sea anglerfishes contains 4 species and these are found in the Indo-West Pacific. southeastern Pacific and Western Atlantic oceans. Little is known about the life history and biology of these fishes.
Chaunacops was first proposed as a genus in 1899 by the American ichthyologist Samuel Garman when he described Chaunacops coloratus as a new species. [1] C. coloratus was described from the "Pacific over Cocos Ridge" at 5°43'N, 85°50'W, named as Albatross station 3363 at a depth of 978 fathoms (1,789 m). [2] This genus is classified within the family Chaunacidae, the sea toads, one of two genera in that family, the sea toads are placed within the monotypic suborder Chaunacoidei within the anglerfish order Lophiiformes. [3]
There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus: [4]
Image | Scientific Name | Common Name | Distribution | IUCN status |
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![]() | Chaunacops coloratus Garman, 1899 | Rosy or red coffinfish | eastern Indian Ocean and eastern Pacific Ocean | Least Concern [5] |
![]() | Chaunacops melanostomus J. H. Caruso, 1989 | Tadpole coffinfish | Eastern Indian Ocean | Least Concern [6] |
Chaunacops roseus (Barbour, 1941) | Northwest gaper or rosy coffinfish | Western Atlantic Ocean | Least Concern [7] | |
![]() | Chaunacops spinosus H.-C. Ho & McGrouther, 2015 [8] | Eastern tadpole coffinfish | Australia and New Caledonia | Least Concern [9] |
A sea toad photographed at a depth of 3,148 m (10,328 ft) by a Remotely operated underwater vehicle from the NOAAS Okeanos Explorer on the "Beach Ridge" seamount in the Musicians Seamounts on 8 September 2017 was brighter red than C. coloratus with larger cirri and the prickles on its back were smaller or absent compared to C. coloratus. This fish may be a life stage or morph of C. coloratus or it may be a new undescribed species, confirmation requires the collection of a type. [10]
Chaunacops means "similar to or looking like Chaunax . The specific names of the four species are: coloratus, meaning "colored", this species was described as having a life color odf "deep rose" with dark tints around the mouth and the orbit; melanostomus, meaning "black mouth", a reference to the black lining to the mouth; roseus, meaning "rosy", again, referring to the life color; and spinosus, meaning "spiny", this species having a denser covering of spiny denticles than its congeners. [11]
Chaunacops sea toads are characterized as having globose heads, open sensory and lateral line canals, and loose skin covered by small spine-like scales. Colour, which has been noted as an important distinguishing characteristic, has generally been described as pink, reddish orange, or rose. [12] [13] They have rounded, slightly compressed bodies which taper to a small tail. The eyes are placed high on the sides of the head and are covered in a window of transparent skin. Their large mouths are upward pointing and have then, sharp, vertical teeth. The opening to the gills is small. There is a single dorsal spine, the illicium, or "fishing rod", tipped with the esca, or "lure", made up of a dense, mop-like cluster of short filaments. The other two dorsal spines are embedded in the skin. The dorsal fin is supported by 12 soft rays while the anal fin is supported by 5 or 6 soft rays. The loose, flabby skin is covered in rough, widely speaced tiny denticles. [14] However, Lundsten et al. suggests that juvenile C. coloratus may be blue and only adults are red or rose coloured. [15] The largest species in the genus is C. roseus which has a maximum published total length of 21.9 cm (8.6 in) while the smallest is C. melanostomus with a maximum published standard length of 10 cm (3.9 in). [4]
Chaunacops sea toads are distributed around the world but are not known from the eastern Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea. [4]
Chaunacops sea toads are being collected in some numbers from Eastern and Western Australia. A paper published in 2015 stated that a newly identified species in genus Chaunacops was found off the coasts of Australia and New Caledonia. [8]
Chaunacops sea toads are typically found at deeper depths than Chaunax , but with considerable overlap between the two genera. Chaunacops coloratus are also often found near "manganese-encrusted volcanic talus slopes". [15]
Chaunacops sea toad, like other anglerfishes, are ambush predators which use the illicium and esca to attract prey to within striking distance of their large mouths. Like the anglerfishies inhabiting shallow water these sea toads can use their pectoral fins to walk over the substrate. [16] C. coloratus has the ability to inflate its body into a large ball and this is thought to be to deter predators. [17] These fishes have sometimes been described as having bioluminescent lures, however, there is no evidence that this is the case. The related batfishes belonging to the family Ogcocephalidae live in similar habitats to sea toads and they use scent to attract prey towards the lures and it seems probable that sea toads use a similar luring technique. However, the biology of these deep sea fishes remains largely unknown. [10]
Goosefishes, sometimes called anglers or monkfishes, are a family, the Lophiidae, of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes. These fishes are found in all the world's oceans except for the Antarctic Ocean.
The sea toads and coffinfishes are a family, the Chaunacidae, of deep-sea ray-finned fishes belonging to the monotypic suborder Chaunacoidei within the orderLophiiformes, the anglerfishes. These are bottom-dwelling fishes found on the continental slopes of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, at depths to at least 2,460 m (8,070 ft). There have also been findings of deep-sea anglerfishes off the coasts of Australia and New Caledonia. Other findings suggest some genera of Chaunacidae are found near volcanic slopes encrusted with manganese. Of the two genera in the family, Chaunacops are typically found at deeper depths than Chaunax, but with considerable overlap between the two genera.
Ogcocephalidae is a family of anglerfish specifically adapted for a benthic lifestyle of crawling about on the seafloor. Ogcocephalid anglerfish are sometimes referred to as batfishes, deep-sea batfishes, handfishes, and seabats. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. They are mostly found at depths between 200 and 3,000 m, but have been recorded as deep as 4,000 m (13,000 ft). A few species live in much shallower coastal waters and, exceptionally, may enter river estuaries.
The spotfin frogfish, also known as the big-spot angler, coin-bearing frogfish, darkspot frogfish, ocellated angler, ocellated fringed fishing frog, opulent frogfish, spotfin angler or white-finger anglerfish, is a species ray-finned fish belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The spotfin frogfish is found in scattered locations the eastern Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
Glauert's anglerfish is species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. This species is the only species in the monospecific genus Allenichthys. This species is endemic to southern Australia.
The redeye gaper, Chaunax stigmaeus, is a sedentary species of anglerfish in the family Chaunacidae. It is native to deep waters in the western North Atlantic from the Georges Bank off New England southward to the Blake Plateau off South Carolina. The species is found on the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope at a depth of 90–730 m and among dense beds of dead coral rubble, their preferred habitat. The original type specimen was caught in a trawl off Atlantic City on March 1, 1946, and donated to the Academy of Natural Sciences by Carroll B. Atkinson. The name stigmaeus means "speckled" in Greek.
The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes. They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray acts as a lure for other fish. The luminescence comes from symbiotic bacteria, which are thought to be acquired from seawater, that dwell in and around the sea.
The humpback anglerfish is a species of black seadevils in the family of Melanocetidae, which means "black whale" in Greek. The species is named after James Yate Johnson, the English naturalist who discovered the first specimen in Madeira in 1863. The common names include anglerfish, viperfish and fangtoothfish.
Histiophryne is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. These fishes are found in waters ranging from Taiwan to South Australia. There are currently five known species. These fishes are easily distinguished from other anglerfishes as having a reduced luring appendage, a highly evolved form of the first dorsal fin spine.
Chaunax is a genus of bony fish in the sea toad family Chaunacidae. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans around the world and most species are found at depths between 180 and 1,100 m, but C. endeavouri occurs as shallow as 50 m (160 ft) and C. fimbriatus as deep as 1,985 m (6,512 ft). Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a total length of 11–40 cm (4.3–15.7 in).
Echinophryne is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The fishes in this genus are endemic to the waters off Australia.
Phyllophryne is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The only species in the genus is Phyllophryne scortea, the white-spotted anglerfish, smooth anglerfish or smooth frogfish, which is endemic to southern Australia.
Lophiodes is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Lophiidae, the goosefishes, monkfishes and anglers. It is one of four extant genera in the family Lophiidae. The fish in this genus are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The shaggy frogfish, also known as the hispid frogfish, shaggy anglerfish or zebra anglerfish, is a marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. This fish is found in the Indo-Pacific.
The coffinfish or furry coffinfish is a species of sea toad of the family Chaunacidae. It is found in salty temperate waters of southwestern Pacific, off east coast of Australia. The coffinfish was first discovered around February 1997 in Sicily, Italy by the skipper of the Libra, which was a trawler who was harbored in Mazara at the time. It can be also found in depths of 50–300 m (164–984.3 ft). Deep sea crab fishermen off the east coast of Florida pull them up from depth ranging from 5,000–8,000 feet about 54–68 miles off the coast. They have a globose and spiny body that grows to a maximum length of 22.0 cm (8.7 in) and a black mouth lining and an illicium on the snout that can be lowered into a groove.
Lophiodes beroe, the white goosefish or white anglerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lophiidae, the goosefishes, monkfishes or anglers. This species is found in deep waters in the western Atlantic Ocean.
Antennatus tuberosus, the tuberculate anglerfish, pygmy angler, pygmy frogfish or tuberculated frogfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. This fish is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Echinophryne crassispina, the prickly anglerfish, prickly frogfish or thick-spined anglerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. These fishes are endemic to the temperate waters of southern Australia.
Echinophryne mitchellii, the long-spined frogfish, bristly frogfish, Mitchell's anglerfish, Mitchell's frogfish, prickly angler fish or spinycoat anglerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. These fishes are endemic to the temperate waters of southern Australia.
Lophiocharon trisignatus, the spot-tail anglerfish, rough anglerfish or three-spot frogfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Histiophryninae in the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. This fish is found in the Indo-Pacific region.