Haplophryne mollis
No common name
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GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Linophrynidae (Leftvents Seadevils)
Haplophryne
Haplophryne mollis
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Females: short and moderately deep body, lack branched hyoid barbel, head with well-developed frontal and sphenotic spines, relatively small teeth in more than one series in jaws, angular preoperculum with compressed spine having three to five radiating cusps, pectoral fin with 15 or 16 rays, short illicium, illicial pterygiophore not retractable, esca nearly globular with small posterior branched appendage on snout anterior to eye, second dorsal fin with 3 or 4 rays, anal fin with 3 or 4 rays, caudal fin with 9 rays, unpigmented skin. Free-living males: retain premaxilla and premaxillary teeth, small upper and lower denticular teeth that do not meet anteriorly when jaws are closed.
Skin is unpigmented except for lateral series of subdermal melanophores on each side of body in free-living males.
Distribution
Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in the western Atlantic
Habitat Associations
Tropical and sub-tropical seas in the Atlantic, Indian, and eastern Pacific Oceans
Biology
Maximum known size: females 50 mm SL, free-living males 12 to 14 mm SL, parasitic males 12 mm SL
Also mesopelagic (Ref. 7300). A small deep-sea angler fish. Males dwarfed, becoming parasitic on females (Ref. 10762). An 8 cm female was found with 3 parasitic males of 18 mm length, attached to her ventral side. Adult (=parasitic) males are colorless with reduced teeth, jaws, and eyes. Information on the maximum length of female was taken from Ref. 10762.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-07-15.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species in the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Bertelsen, 1951 (as Edriolychnus schmidti)
Bertelsen, 1986c
Wheeler, A. (1977) Das grosse Buch der Fische. Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co. Stuttgart. 356 p.
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley (1989) Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p.
Bertelsen, E. (1990) Linophrynidae. p. 516-519. In J. C. Quero, J. C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
Stewart, A.L. and T.W. Pietsch (1998) The ceratioid anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of New Zealand. J. The Royal Society of New Zealand. Vol. 28(1):1-37.
Pietsch, T.W. (2009) Oceanic anglerfishes. Extraordinary diversity in the deep sea. Oceanic Anglerfishes, i-xii; 1-557pp.
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