Louisiana pancake batfish

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Louisiana pancake batfish
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Ogcocephalidae
Genus: Halieutichthys
Species:
H. intermedius
Binomial name
Halieutichthys intermedius

The Louisiana pancake batfish, Halieutichthys intermedius, belongs to the batfish family Ogcocephalidae. It is native to the Gulf of Mexico, and was discovered in 2010. The known range of the species lies within the area of the Gulf of Mexico which was affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Contents

Distribution and habitat

Since 1818 thought to be a single species, these fish were determined in 2010 to be divided into three distinct species, the others being Halieutichthys aculeatus and Halieutichthys bispinosus . [1] While the other batfish are found along the Atlantic coast from Louisiana to North Carolina, the Louisiana pancake batfish is only found in the Gulf of Mexico in a range entirely covered by the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [1] They live at depths of up to 400 metres (1,300 ft). [2] Although numbers are not precisely known, in the initial trawl which led to their discovery out of around 100,000 fish only three were pancake batfish. [3]

Description

Hsuan-Ching Ho, of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan (now in National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, Taiwan), discovered the Louisiana pancake batfish when he was visiting colleagues in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. They noted that the specimens of the pancake batfish in the collection of the museum were actually three species, not a single one as previously thought. Trawling expeditions were conducted and consistent differences were identified in those found. He joined with John Sparks and Prosanta Chakrabarty, of the American Museum of Natural History to write the description that appeared in Journal of Fish Biology . [4]

Pancake batfish are so named from their body shape, which is flattened with an enlarged head and trunk giving a rounded disc shape. [1] Their motion on the ocean floor, like other batfish, is described as being like a bat crawling. They have pectoral fins which resemble limbs and the batfish use these together with their smaller pelvic fins to 'walk' along the ocean floor. [5] They feed on invertebrates, and use chemical lures to catch prey. [1] They are small enough to fit in the palm of a human hand and are described as being as thick as a "fluffy pancake". [6]

The Louisiana pancake batfish was named as one of the top ten new species of 2010 by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. [1] John Sparks, credited as one of the discoverers of the species, said "If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity, especially microdiversity, is out there that we do not know about". [1]

Related Research Articles

Pancake batfish Species of fish

The pancake batfish belongs to the batfish family Ogcocephalidae. Their distributrition includes western Atlantic, North Carolina, northern Gulf of Mexico to northern South America. They inhabit a subtropical, sandy, reef-associated, and 45–820 m deep environment.

Fringefin lanternshark Species of shark

The fringefin lanternshark is a shark of the family Etmopteridae found in the western central Atlantic from Texas to Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico. It is endemic to this area. It is a deep water shark and is found about 220 to 915 meters below the surface, on the upper continental slopes of the Gulf. E. schultzi is a small shark, about 27–30 cm long and feeds on squid. It is also bioluminescent, which counter-illuminates it and helps with intraspecific interaction. Due to its limited range and the difficulty of collecting deep water species, it has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, but due to recent oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, it is likely that fringefin lanternsharks have decreased in population.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> Former offshore oil drilling rig

Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon, registered in Majuro, and leased to BP from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 ft (10,683 m) and measured depth of 35,055 ft (10,685 m) in the Tiber Oil Field at Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Houston, in 4,132 feet (1,259 m) of water.

<i>Halieutichthys</i> Genus of fishes

Halieutichthys is a fish genus in the family Ogcocephalidae.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill Oil spill that began in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an industrial disaster that began on the 20th of April 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. federal government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 Mbbl. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in American history.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> explosion 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was an April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field about 40 miles (64 km) southeast off the Louisiana coast. The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the deaths of 11 workers; 17 others were injured. The same blowout that caused the explosion also caused an oil well fire and a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010.

This article covers the effect of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the resulting oil spill on global and national economies and the energy industry.

<i>A Whale</i>

Cosmo Ace, formerly A Whale and Madison Orca, is a Liberian-flagged ore-oil carrier built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea for TMT Co. Ltd. from the Republic of China (Taiwan). She has seven other sister ships in the fleet, built in 2010-2011 and named in succession: B Whale, C Whale etc., to H Whale.

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is the organization created by President Barack Obama to recover from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and preserve the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Gulf killifish Species of fish

The Gulf killifish is one of the largest members of the genus Fundulus; it is capable of growing up to 18 cm in length, whereas the majority of other Fundulus reach a maximum length of 10 cm. Therefore, F. grandis is among the largest minnows preyed upon by many sport fish, such as flounder, speckled trout, and red drum. Fundulus derives from the Latin meaning "bottom," and grandis means "large". The Gulf killifish is native to the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida and the eastern coast of Florida and the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. Threats to the survival of the Gulf killifish include extreme changes in salinity, changes in temperatures, and toxic events such as the hypoxic dead zone in Louisiana and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Gulf killifish is currently being used to test the effects of oil and oil dispersants on the physiology of marine species affected by these substances. This is significant to conservation biology, because with the continued extraction of oil and other natural resources from North American waters, it has become increasingly important to understand the risks and consequences in worst-case scenarios, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the lasting effects on the marine ecosystem.

Environmental impact of the <i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil making it the largest marine oil spill. Both the spill and the cleanup efforts had effects on the environment.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill response

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between 10 April and 19 September 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were: to contain oil on the surface, dispersal, and removal. While most of the oil drilled off Louisiana is a lighter crude, the leaking oil was of a heavier blend which contained asphalt-like substances. According to Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, this type of oil emulsifies well. Once it becomes emulsified, it no longer evaporates as quickly as regular oil, does not rinse off as easily, cannot be broken down by microbes as easily, and does not burn as well. "That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons", Overton said.

Ogcocephalus radiatus or the polka-dot batfish is an arrow-shaped fish in the family Ogcocephalidae with an elongated thin tail. It is dorso-ventrally flattened with round pectoral fins that sit flat on the bottom of the sea floor. It uses its pectoral fins and pelvic fins to "walk" along the bottom in a side-to-side shuffling motion.

GuLF Study

The GuLF Study, or Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study, is a five-year research project examining the human-health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. The spill followed an explosion on a drilling rig leased by BP, the British oil company, and led to the release of over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, 48 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the United States.

Halieutichthys bispinosus belongs to the batfish family Ogcocephalidae. It is native to the Gulf of Mexico, and was discovered in 2010.

Ogcocephalus porrectus, the rosy-lipped batfish, is endemic to Cocos Island off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Though members of Ogcocephalidae occur in tropical, warm waters in both the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. Rosy-lipped batfish generally reside in shallow to deep water benthic zones with a bathymetric range of 35 – 150 m. The syntypic series was collected at 120 m on a rocky bottom. What makes this fish distinctive are its rosy red lips, specialized pectoral fins used for "walking", and an illicium used for attracting prey.

<i>Dibranchus atlanticus</i> Species of fish

The Atlantic batfish is a species of fish in the family Ogcocephalidae. It is found in deep water in the Atlantic Ocean where it lives on the seabed, feeding on small invertebrates.

Prosanta Chakrabarty

Prosanta Chakrabarty is an American ichthyologist and professor of ichthyology, evolution and systematics at Louisiana State University. He studied at McGill University where he received a bachelor of science in Applied Zoology and at the University of Michigan where he obtained his PhD in Ecology and Evolution.Among other professional positions he was the Program Director for the National Science Foundation and is currently the Secretary of the American Society of Ichthyologist and Herpetologist. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016, and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018. He was named an Elected Fellow of the AAAS for "distinguished contributions to evolutionary biology, focusing on the bioluminescent systems and historical biogeography of freshwater fishes, and for effectively communicating science to the public."

<i>Gymnachirus texae</i> Species of fish

The Gulf of Mexico fringed sole, also known as the fringed sole, is a species of sole in the family Achiridae. It was described by Gordon Gunter in 1936, originally under the genus Nodogymnus. It is known from the United States and Mexico. It dwells at a depth range of 20 to 187 m. It reaches a maximum total length of 14 cm (5.5 in).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smith, Lewis (23 May 2011). "Deep sea fish named in world top ten new species". Fish2Fork. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  2. Schenkman, Lauren (4 June 2010). "Not Just Pelicans in Peril, But Pancake Batfish, Too". Science. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  3. Lynch, Kelly (16 June 2010). "Little-known pancake batfish could be one of oil spill's early victims". CNN. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  4. Ho, H. C.; Chakrabarty, P.; Sparks, J. S. (2010). "Review of the Halieutichthys aculeatus species complex (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae), with descriptions of two new species". Journal of Fish Biology . 77 (4): 841–869. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02716.x. PMID   20840615.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-26. Retrieved 2019-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Milius, Susan (14 August 2010). "New 'walking' fishes discovered in Gulf oil-spill zone". Science News. Retrieved 23 May 2011.