Chaunax

Chaunax is a genus of bony fish in the sea toad family Chaunacidae.[1] They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans around the world and most species are found at depths between 180 and 1,100 m (590 and 3,610 ft), but C. endeavouri occurs as shallow as 50 m (160 ft) and C. fimbriatus as deep as 1,985 m (6,512 ft).[2][3] Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a total length of 11–40 cm (4.3–15.7 in).[4]

Chaunax
Chaunax suttkusi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Chaunacidae
Genus: Chaunax
R. T. Lowe, 1846
Type species
Chaunax pictus
R. T. Lowe, 1846

Species

There are currently 25 recognized species in this genus:[4]

  • Chaunax abei Y. Le Danois, 1978
  • Chaunax africanus H.-C. Ho & Last, 2013 (African coffinfish)[5]
  • Chaunax apus Lloyd, 1909[6]
  • Chaunax atimovatae H.-C. Ho & W. C. Ma, 2016[7]
  • Chaunax brachysomus H.-C. Ho, Kawai & Satria, 2015 (Short-body frogmouth)[6]
  • Chaunax breviradius Y. Le Danois, 1978
  • Chaunax endeavouri Whitley, 1929 (Coffinfish)
  • Chaunax fimbriatus Hilgendorf, 1879 (Tasselled coffinfish)
  • Chaunax flammeus Y. Le Danois, 1979
  • Chaunax flavomaculatus H.-C. Ho, C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 2013 (Yellow-spot frogmouth)[8]
  • Chaunax gomoni H.-C. Ho, Kawai & Satria, 2015 (Gomon's frogmouth)[6]
  • Chaunax heemstraorum H.-C. Ho & W. C. Ma, 2016[7]
  • Chaunax hollemani H.-C. Ho & W. C. Ma, 2016[7]
  • Chaunax latipunctatus Y. Le Danois, 1984
  • Chaunax mulleus H.-C. Ho, C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 2013 (Red-shoes frogmouth)[8]
  • Chaunax multilepis H.-C. Ho, Meleppura & Bineesh, 2016 (Indian spotted coffinfish)[9]
  • Chaunax nebulosus H.-C. Ho & Last, 2013 (Eye-spot coffinfish)[5]
  • Chaunax nudiventer H.-C. Ho & K. T. Shao, 2010 (Naked-belly coffinfish)
  • Chaunax penicillatus McCulloch, 1915 (Pencil coffinfish)
  • Chaunax pictus R. T. Lowe, 1846 (Pink frogmouth)
  • Chaunax reticulatus H.-C. Ho, C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 2013 (Netted frogmouth)[8]
  • Chaunax russatus H.-C. Ho, C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 2013 (Red coffinfish)[8]
  • Chaunax stigmaeus Fowler, 1946 (Red-eye coffinfish)
  • Chaunax suttkusi J. H. Caruso, 1989
  • Chaunax umbrinus C. H. Gilbert, 1905

Description

The Head and body of the Chaunax suttkusi fish is a pale to rosy pink, with the tops and sides of the head and fins being red; the upper body frequently has yellow dots; while the lower surfaces are whitish. Lures are uniformly pale to dusky on all surfaces with dark threads in the nose cavity.[10]

Habitat and diet

Members of the fish are primarily found near the ocean floor, along coral reefs, oysters, soft bottoms, and near muddy substrates. Their eating habits revolve around the oceanic floor, where there are occasionally only a few small marine species to be found. As a result, they developed an energy-saving mechanism to allow them to survive on less food. The fish family is a consistent predator. They move slowly enough that their prey is unaware of their existence. In the depths of the ocean floor, they prey on nearly anything, such as small marine fishes that may be part of their diet.

References
  1. Richards, W.J. (2005). Early Stages of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide for the Western Central North Atlantic, Two Volume Set. CRC Press. p. 1312. ISBN 978-0-8493-1916-7.
  2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2016). "Chaunax endeavouri" in FishBase. January 2016 version.
  3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2016). "Chaunax fimbriatus" in FishBase. January 2016 version.
  4. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). Species of Chaunax in FishBase. July 2017 version.
  5. Ho, Hsuan-Ching; Last, Peter R. (2013). "Two new species of the coffinfish genus Chaunax (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae) from the Indian Ocean". Zootaxa. 3710 (5): 436–448. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3710.5.3.
  6. Ho, Hsuan-Ching; Kawai, T.; Satria, F. (2015). "Species of the anglerfish genus Chaunax from Indonesia, with descriptions of two new species (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae)" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 63: 301–308. Archived 2015-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Ho, Hsuan-Ching; Ma, Wen-Chun (2016). "Revision of southern African species of the anglerfish genus Chaunax (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae), with descriptions of three new species". Zootaxa. 4144 (2): 175–194. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4144.2.2.
  8. Ho, Hsuan-Ching; Roberts, Clive D.; Stewart, Andrew L. (2013). "A review of the anglerfish genus Chaunax (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae) from New Zealand and adjacent waters, with descriptions of four new species". Zootaxa. 3620 (1): 89–111. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3620.1.4.
  9. Ho, Hsuan-Ching; Meleppura, Rajeesh Kumar; Bineesh, K. K. (2016). "Chaunax multilepis sp. nov., a new species of Chaunax (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae) from the northern Indian Ocean". Zootaxa. 4103 (2): 130–136. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4103.2.3. PMID 27394623.
  10. "Shorefishes - The Fishes - Species". biogeodb.stri.si.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
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