Melanocetus johnsonii
No common name
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Melanocetidae (Black Seadevils)
Melanocetus
Melanocetus johnsonii
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.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Females: anterior margin of vomer nearly straight, lower jaw teeth 32-78, longest lower jaw tooth 8.4-25% SL, width of pectoral fin lobe 10.7-17.8% SL, illicium 32.4-60.6% SL, escal bulb slightly compressed (4.3-8.6% SL) with low, rounded or conical distal prolongation, compressed posterior crest usually darkly pigmented, compressed anterior crest occasionally present, esca with posterior and (usually) anterior crests, skin spines minute and present over much of body, pectoral fin rays 17-23, second dorsal fin rays 13-17, anal fin rays 3-5. Males: posterior nostril contiguous with eye, snout with median series of 8 denticles, lower denticular bone with 12-24 denticles, dorsal fin rays 13-15, pectoral fin rays 17-21, skin either naked or with denticles.
Escal bulb with distal prolongation nearly always pigmented to tip, compressed posterior crest usually darkly pigmented.
Distribution
Western Atlantic: from Labrador to northern Argentina
Recorded once from the Gulf of Mexico, but this record is questionable
Habitat Associations
Worldwide between 100 and 2,000 m
Biology
Maximum known size: females 120 mm SL, males 28 mm SL
Meso- and bathypelagic (Ref. 58302). Males dwarfed and non-parasitic (Ref. 4491). Caught with plankton nets (Ref. 559). Capable of catching and swallowing prey larger than itself, as witness the approximately 24.0 cm SL specimen of Chauliodus sp. in the stomach of a 6.6 cm SL individual (NMNZ P 14537) (Ref. 58502). Larvae are found primarily in upper 100 m (Ref. 36493). Oviparous, with planktonic larvae (Ref. 36493). Eggs are presumably contained in floating gelatinous rafts (Ref. 36493).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders. Oviparous (Ref. 36493).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-05-09.
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Bertelsen 1951
Bertelsen 1986e
Pietsch and Van Duzer 1979
Uyeno et al. 1983
Pietsch 1986b
Pietsch, T.W. (1986) Melanocetidae. p. 375-376. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Bertelsen, E. (1990) Melanocetidae. p. 492-493. 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.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Watson, W. (1996) Melanocetidae: blackdevils. p. 571-573. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 1505 p.
Anderson, M.E. and R.W. Leslie (2001) Review of the deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of southern Africa. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 70:30 p.
Hopkins, T.L., T.T. Sutton and T.M. Lancraft (1996) The trophic structure and predation impact of a low latitude midwater fish assemblage. Prog. Oceanog. 38:205-239.
Yang, J., Z. Huang, S. Chen and Q. Li (1996) The Deep-Water Pelagic Fishes in the Area form Nansha Islands To the Northeast part of South China Sea. Science Publication Company, Beijing. 190 pp.
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