Southern Seadevil, Ceratias tentaculatus (Norman 1930)

Other Names: Southern Giant Seadevil

Southern Seadevil, Ceratias tentaculatus. Source: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:

A dark reddish-brown to black seadevil, and the distal portion of the escal bulb darkly pigmented (75 mm SL and larger) with two slender appendages, each nearly always divided into 2 or more branches

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2023, Ceratias tentaculatus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 19 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/2160

Southern Seadevil, Ceratias tentaculatus (Norman 1930)

More Info

Distribution	Off Sydney, New South Wales, to off Bunbury, Western Australia, including Tasmania. Elsewhere the species is circumglobal in the Southern Ocean, mostly between 35° and 68° S.
Features	Dorsal fin I; 3-4 (rarely 3); Anal fin 4; Caudal fin 9; Pectoral fin 15-19. Females: Body elongate, deep (35-40% SL), compressed; two fleshy, club-shaped light organs (caruncles) situated on midline of back somewhat anterior to dorsal fin. Head massive (approx. 30% SL), anterior profile broadly rounded; top of head without large horn-like spines; eyes very small, degenerate in large adults; mouth of moderate size (upper jaw approx. 40% HL), nearly vertical, well in front of eye; teeth moderately short, slender, curved, a narrow band in each jaw, teeth in lower jaw markedly longer than those in upper, vomer with 1-3 teeth on each side; oval gill opening below and behind pectoral-fin base. Scales absent; skin covered with small, close-set dermal spines; lateral line not distinct, in form of low papillae scattered on head and body. Dorsal fin in two parts, single dorsal spine (illicium), tipped with small bulbous esca, above and behind eyes and short based soft dorsal fin immediately before caudal fin; bony basal support (pterygiophore) for illicium extending forward from head giving illicium an articulated appearance, posterior end of basal bone projecting from midline of back in front of dorsal fin in large individuals, illicium long (19-28% SL) much longer than escal bulb, esca of adults with a darkly pigmented distal papilla (75 mm SL and larger) and two slender distal appendages or filaments, each nearly always divided into 2 or more branches; anal fin similar to and opposite dorsal fin; caudal fin large, rounded. Pectoral fins small, rounded, attached to short, mobile fleshy base midlaterally behind head.
Etymology	The specific name tentaculatus is from the Latin tentacule (= feeler), and -atus (= provided with), presumably in reference to the “small and almost transparent” tentacles on the tip of the escal bulb.
Species Citation	Mancalias tentaculatus Norman 1930, Discovery Reports v. 2: 355, Fig. 45. Type locality: South Atlantic, 52°25'S, 9°50'E, depth 650-700 m.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2023
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Southern Seadevil, Ceratias tentaculatus (Norman 1930)

References

Anderson, M.E. & Leslie, R.W. 2001. Review of the deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of southern Africa. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute, Grahamstown 70: 1-32

Cobián Rojas, D., Espinosa-Perez, H. & Vega-Cendejas, M. 2019. Ceratias tentaculatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T123424090A123424399. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T123424090A123424399.en. Accessed on 12 July 2023.

Gomon, M.F. 1994. Families Chaunacidae, Himantolophidae, Oneirodidae, Ceratiidae. pp. 298-305 figs 265-268 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

Norman, J.R. 1930. Oceanic fishes and flatfishes collected in 1925–1927. Discovery Reports 2: 261-370 figs 1-47 pls 1-2

Pietsch, T.W. 1986. Systematics and distribution of bathypelagic anglerfishes of the family Ceratiidae (order: Lophiiformes). Copeia 1986(2): 479-493

Pietsch, T.W. 1990. Ceratiidae. pp. 210-211 in Gon, O. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds). Fishes of the Southern Ocean. Grahamstown : J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 462 pp.

Pietsch, T.W. 2008. Ceratiidae. pp. 385-386 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Pietsch, T.W. 2009. Oceanic Anglerfishes. Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press pp. i-xii + 1-557.

Stewart, A.L. & Pietsch, T.W. 1998. The ceratioid anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 28(1): 1-37.

Stewart, A.L. & Pietsch, T.W. 2015. 121 Family Ceratiidae (pp. 928-931) in Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 3 pp. 577-1152.