False Silver Whiptail, Coelorinchus mayiae Iwamoto & Williams 1999

Endemic to northern Australia; benthopelagic on the continental shelf at 150-200m.

D II, 8-9; P 14-16; V 7; GR (inner) 8-10; BR 6; PC.
Snout almost half head length, with a slight humplike rise in dorsal profile over nostril, anterolateral margins not fully supported by bone; mouth large, upper jaw extending to below hind margin of orbit; chin barbel present. Scales over snout notably thin, underside of head completely naked; nasal fossa naked. Body scales immediately below origin of first dorsal fin with short, conical, slightly recurved spinules, in irregularly divergent rows to somewhat quincunx pattern. Scales on chest with broader, flatter spinules, more triangular in shape. Light organ extends from anus forward to just behind isthmus.

A relatively small species reaching a total length of 28 cm.

Silvery over sides of head, ventral half of trunk, and midlaterally on tail.
In alcohol; Head covering transparent dorsally on nape and trunk, dark blotches fairly extensive and continuous. Anterior end of dorsal stripe (below origin of second dorsal fin) forming clublike or hockey-sticklike head directed anteroventrally and joining faint band that merges with dark periproct region. Lateral aspects of abdomen heavily punctate. Ventral surfaces almost completely devoid of pigmentation from periproct region to anterior end of pelvic fin bases. Chest sharply demarcated from pale belly by dark pigmentation.

Unknown.

Unknown.

Of no commercial interest.

Not assessed.

Coelorinchus mayiae Iwamoto & Williams 1999, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 51(3): 152, fig.19b, Arafura Sea, NT, 9°05.11S, 133°39.7'E.

Bray, D.J. & G. Frankham