Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: 01 Feb 2004

Revision of the Deep-Sea Anglerfish Genus Bufoceratias Whitley (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei: Diceratiidae), with Description of a New Species from the Indo-West Pacific Ocean

,
, and
Page Range: 98 – 107
DOI: 10.1643/CI-03-166R
Save
Download PDF

Abstract

The deep-sea ceratioid anglerfish genus Bufoceratias Whitley is revised on the basis of all known material. Three species are recognized: Bufoceratias wedli (Pietschmann), now represented by 69 specimens collected from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; Bufoceratias thele (Uwate), 11 specimens from the western Pacific; and a new species, Bufoceratias shaoi, described on the basis of four specimens from the Western Indian and Western Pacific oceans. The new species differs from its congeners by having a short illicium and an unusually large and morphologically complex esca. Diagnoses and descriptions are given for all taxa and a revised key to the species of the genus is provided. Diceratiids are found in all three major oceans of the world, but they are conspicuously absent from the eastern Pacific. In contrast to the midwater life style generally assumed for most ceratioids, at least some diceratiids, especially larger individuals, are associated with the bottom.

Copyright: The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.

Bufoceratias shaoi n. sp., holotype, ASIZP 61796, 101 mm. Digital photograph by Ho Hsuan-ching.

 Fig. 3.
 Fig. 3.

Escae of species of Bufoceratias: (A) Bufoceratias shaoi n. sp., holotype, ASIZP 61796, 101 mm (bar = 10 mm); (B) Bufoceratias wedli (Pietschmann), MNHN 1987–962, 99 mm (bar = 5 mm). Digital photographs by Ho Hsuan-ching

 Fig. 5.
 Fig. 5.

Distribution of species of Bufoceratias: Bufoceratias shaoi n. sp., Taiwan and Mozambique Channel; Bufoceratias wedli (Pietschmann), Atlantic Ocean; Bufoceratias thele (Uwate), Western Pacific. A single symbol may represent more than one capture

 Fig. 2.
 Fig. 2.

Bufoceratias wedli (Pietschmann), MNHN 1987–993, 89 mm. Digital photograph by Ho Hsuan-ching

 Fig. 4.
 Fig. 4.

Esca of Bufoceratias thele (Uwate), HUMZ 146798, 41 mm (bar = 1 mm). Digital photograph by Mitsuomi Shimazaki

Contributor Notes

(TWP) School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Box 355020, Seattle, Washington 98195; (HH-c) Laboratory of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academy Road, Nankang, 115 Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; and (CH-m) Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University, No. 2, Peining Road, 202 Keelung, Taiwan, Republic of China. (TWP)twp@u.washington.edu Send reprint requests to TWP.

Accepted: 10 Sept 2003
  • Download PDF