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 06 Jul 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/4896
Eyespot Coffinfish, Chaunax nebulosus Ho & Last 2013
More Info
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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. |
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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. |
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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). |
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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. |
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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. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2022 |
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Resources |
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
