Chaunacops

Chaunacops is a genus of lophiiform fish (anglerfish) in the family Chaunacidae. They 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 (Garman, 1899; Caruso, 1989b). However, recent work by Lundsten et al. (2012) suggests that juvenile Chaunacops coloratus may be blue and only adults are red or rose coloured.

Chaunacops
Chaunacops coloratus at the Davidson Seamount
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Chaunacidae
Genus: Chaunacops
Garman, 1899

Chaunacops coloratus was first described in 1899 from a dead specimen collected during the US Albatross Expedition of 1891 at the Cocos Ridge collecting station. It is a deep-sea species of the order Lophiiformes (anglerfishes).This species is benthic, living at reported depths from 1789 to 3297 m in the east Indian and eastern Pacific oceans. It was first filmed alive at the seafloor at Davidson and Taney Seamounts in the northeast Pacific Ocean by scientists from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), California, US, using a remote-controlled vehicle. As with all members of the Lophiiformes, these fish use lures to attract prey.

Many Specimens of Chaunacops are being collected from Eastern and Western Australia.

Species

There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus:[1]

  • Chaunacops coloratus Garman, 1899
  • Chaunacops melanostomus J. H. Caruso, 1989 (Tadpole coffinfish)
  • Chaunacops roseus T. Barbour, 1941
  • Chaunacops spinosus H. C. Ho & McGrouther, 2015 (Eastern tadpole coffinfish)[2]

References
  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). Species of Chaunacops in FishBase. July 2017 version.
  2. Ho, H.-C. & McGrouther, M. (2015): A new anglerfish from eastern Australia and New Caledonia (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae: Chaunacops), with new data and submersible observation of Chaunacops melanostomus. Journal of Fish Biology, 86 (3): 940–951.


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