Two-spine Triangular Batfish, Malthopsis mitrigera Gilbert & Cramer 1897

Summary:

A pale greenish-yellow or pinkish-yellow, with juveniles having black fins tips.

Cite this page as:

Malthopsis mitrigera in Fishes of Australia, accessed 08 Dec 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5484

Two-spine Triangular Batfish, Malthopsis mitrigera Gilbert & Cramer 1897

More Info

Distribution	Off Scott Reef, Western Australia, and off Norfolk Ridge in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific, including off South Africa, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and Hawaii, at depths to 742 m.
Features	Dorsal fin 5-6; Pectoral fin 13-15. Very large, rounded bucklers covering ventral surface; large blunt bucklers covering dorsal surface; subopercular bucklers elongated and curved posteriorly, bearing two anteriorly directed spines; a broad space between rostral spine and illicial trough; and a very broad head (width 19.1%–24.7% SL); very large orbit (11.3%–18.1% SL); interorbital space very broad and flattened (9.6%–11.3% SL); rostral spine short (4.0%–6.8%), directed upward (anterodorsally or vertically), mostly blunt (occasionally sharply pointed); caudal peduncle slender. Origin of anal fin at or behind vertical axis of rear tip of dorsal fin; anal fin well-separated from caudal-fin base when appressed.
Colour	Body light greenish-yellow or pinkish-yellow, juveniles with black fins tips. In preserative, juveniles have black fin tips.

Two-spine Triangular Batfish, Malthopsis mitrigera Gilbert & Cramer 1897

References

Ho, H.-C., & Last, P.R. 2021. Review of the batfish genus Malthopsis from Australia (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae), with descriptions of five new species. Bulletin of Marine Science 97(1): 165-218 https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2020.0037