Eyespot Coffinfish, Chaunax nebulosus Ho & Last 2013


Other Names: Eyespot Frogmouth

Holotype of the Eyespot Coffinfish, Chaunax nebulosus, CSIRO H.5200-51, from N of Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia, 245 m. Source: Australian National Fish Collection. CSIRO. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:
A dusky reddish-pink coffinfish densely covered in irregular minute greyish-green spots, overlain with five brown to blackish eye-sized spots on the dorsal surface, and filamentous cirri on the head. The illicium is long and the esca has numerous thin pale cirri with brown tips. It sits in a shallow elongate illicial trough that is the same colour as body.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2022, Chaunax nebulosus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 27 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4896

Eyespot Coffinfish, Chaunax nebulosus Ho & Last 2013

More Info


Distribution

Off Western Australia from NW of Rottnest Island to N of King Sound (13-32ºS) at depths to 380 m. Elsewhere the species is known from off Sumatra, Indonesia, in depths of 384-426 m. Inhabits the upper continental slope.

Features

Dorsal fin III, 11-12; Anal fin 7; Pectoral fin 13-14; Caudal fin 9; Gill rakers (1st arch) 12, (2nd arch) 8-9; Lateral-line neuromasts: anterior body proper = 3-5, upper preopercular = 2-3, infraorbital = 5-7, hyomandibular = 3-4, pectoral = 10-12, body proper = 29-35.
3-4 pairs of spinules bridging each neuromast; illicium long, slender; illicial trough elongate, longer than wide; esca with numerous thin pale cirri and brown tips; gill chamber pale with large blackish patch on inner wall of opercle; peritoneal membrane pale.

Similar Species

Differs from the similar Chaunax reticulatus in colour pattern, and in usually having 10–11 neuromasts in the pectoral series (vs. mainly 12 in C. reticulatus). 

Etymology

The specific name nebulosus is from the Latin nebula (cloudy) in reference to the unique, diffuse, greyish-green colour pattern overlain dorsally with five black spots.

Species Citation

Chaunax nebulosus Ho & Last, 2013, Zootaxa 3710(5): 437, Figs. 1A-B, 2A-D. Type locality: north of Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia, 19°36'S, 115°27'E, depth 245 m.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2022

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Eyespot Coffinfish, Chaunax nebulosus Ho & Last 2013

References


Ho, H. 2020. Chaunax nebulosus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T139928803A140322586. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T139928803A140322586.en. Downloaded on 09 December 2020.

Ho, H.-C., Kawai, T. & Satria, F. 2015. Species of the anglerfish genus Chaunax from Indonesia, with descriptions of two new species (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 63: 301-308. See ref online

Ho, H-C. & P.R. Last. 2013. Two new species of the coffinfish genus Chaunax (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae) from the Indian Ocean. Zootaxa 3710(5): 436-448. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3710.5.3

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37211006

Conservation:IUCN Least Concern

Depth:218-850 m

Habitat:Demersal, continental slope

Max Size:21 cm SL

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