Broad-snout Deepsea Batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos Bradbury 1988


Other Names: Broad Batfish

Broad-snout Deepsea Batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos. Source: Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:
A uniformly grey to dark grey batfish with a subtriangular disc in outline, a strongly projecting, very broad and shelf-like rostrum, almost extending completely in front of the mouth as a bony pointed plate that extends forward and upwards, a very wide shallow illicial cavity that opens downward, and the 3-lobed esca completely visible from the underside.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2022, Halieutopsis bathyoreos in Fishes of Australia, accessed 26 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/5226

Broad-snout Deepsea Batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos Bradbury 1988

More Info


Distribution

Northwest Shelf, Western Australia, and off Newcastle, New South Wales, to east of Flinders Island, Tasmania; also SW of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and off Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the Indo-west-central Pacific: off Madagascar, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Japan, and the central North Pacific off Hawaii. Depth range ~ 800-2000 m, mostly deeper than 1000 m.
Inhabits deep waters on the continental slope waters, including seamounts, ridges and rises.

Features

Dorsal fin 5; Anal fin 4; Pectoral fin 15; Vertebrae 19. 
Disc subtriangular in outline; illicial trough and esca fully visible in ventral view; tubercles on dorsal surface with 6-8 facets; rostrum very broad, shelf-like, extending anteriorly well beyond the mouth; a dorsal, relatively wide, leaf-shaped dorsal escal lobe slightly bisected ventrally; an illicial cavity completely square in outline and completely visible from the ventral view; tubercles absent on ventral surface of disk. Rostrum width 21-29% of head length; tubercles on the dorsal surface of the disk about half the diameter of those on the lateral margin; and, 13-15 large lateral-line scales on the tail.

Feeding

Feeds on molluscs, polychaetes, small crustaceans and small fishes.

Similar Species

Differs from other species in the genus Halieutopsis in having a shelf-like rostrum extending anteriorly well beyond the mouth, a dorsal escal lobe slightly bisected ventrally, an illicial cavity square in outline and completely visible in ventral view, and lacking tubercles on the ventral surface of the disc.

Etymology

The specific name bathyoreos is from the Greek bathy (= deep) and oreos (= mountain), in reference to the deep-water seamount habitat of this species "announcing that this is a species of a deep mountain".

Species Citation

Halieutopsis bathyoreos Bradbury 1988, Fieldiana Zoology (NS) 44: 18, Figs. 2, 3B, 6. Type locality: Central North Pacific [north of Johnston Atoll], 19°14.3'N, 169°07.3'W, depth 1500 m.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2022

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Broad-snout Deepsea Batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos Bradbury 1988

References


Bradbury, M.G. 1988. Rare fishes of the deep-sea genus Halieutopsis: a review with descriptions of four new species (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Fieldiana Zoology 44: 1-22. See ref at BHL

Bradbury, M.G. 1999. Family Ogcocephalidae. pp. 2023-2025 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 3 pp. 1397-2068.

Ho, H.-C. 2015. 115 Family Ogcocephalidae, pp. 896-902 in Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. (eds) The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 2 pp. 1-576.

Ho, H. 2020. Halieutopsis bathyoreos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T140337799A140859612. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T140337799A140859612.en. Accessed on 10 January 2022.

Ho, H.-C. 2021. Taxonomy and distribution of the deep-sea batfish genus Halieutopsis (Teleostei: Ogcocephalidae), with descriptions of five new species. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 10(1): 64 pp. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10010034

Ho, H.-C., Roberts, C.D. & Shao, K.-T. 2013. Revision of batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) of New Zealand and adjacent waters, with description of two new species of the genus Malthopsis. Zootaxa 3626(1): 188-200. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3626.1.8

Shimazaki, M., Endo, H. & Yabe, M. 2004. Redescription of a rare deep-sea batfish, Halieutopsis bathyoreos (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Ichthyological Research 51: 120-125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-004-0204-z

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37212012

Conservation:IUCN Least Concern

Depth:800-2000 m

Habitat:Continental slope, seamounts

Max Size:7.3 cm SL

Species Image Gallery

Species Maps

CAAB distribution map