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Melanocetus johnsonii Günther, 1864

Humpback anglerfish
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Melanocetus johnsonii   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Melanocetus johnsonii (Humpback anglerfish)
Melanocetus johnsonii
Picture by Ho, H.-C.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Lophiiformes (Anglerfishes) > Melanocetidae (Black Seadevils)
Etymology: Melanocetus: Greek, 'melas' or 'melanos' = black + Greek, 'ketos' = any large sea creature, more often referring to a whale (Ref. 86949);  johnsonii: Named for Mr. Johnson of Madeira who found the first individual (Ref. 4525).
More on author: Günther.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 100 - 4500 m (Ref. 74511), usually 100 - 1500 m (Ref. 4118). Deep-water; 50°N - 50°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Tropical to temperate parts of all oceans. South China Sea and East China Sea (Ref.74511).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 2.9 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4491); 18.0 cm TL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 17; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 3 - 5. Esca with compressed posterior and anterior crests; anterior margin of vomer nearly straight; minute skin spines present over most of body (Ref. 13608). Branchiostegal rays 6 (Ref. 36493). Caudal-fin rays 8. Scales are cone-shaped, hollow and translucent; with circular base and a free edge pointing towards the caudal region. Left otolith, oblong shape with regular edges, inner face does not present rostrum, antirostrum or cisure (Ref. 41244). Distinguishing characteristics of metamorphosed female: least outside width between frontals 13.5-28.6% SL; upper jaw with 48-134 teeth, lower jaw 32-78 teeth; length of longest tooth in lower jaw 8.4-25% SL; width of pectoral fin lobe 10.7-17.8% SL; width of escal bulb 4.3-8.6% SL; length of illicium 32.4-60.8% SL; skin with minute spinules over most of body; relatively thick integument 1.55 mm (Ref. 86949). Distinguishing characteristics of metamorphosed male: upper denticular with 9-13 ventrally directed anterior teeth and posteromedial series of 8-11 teeth; lower denticular 12-24 teeth; posterior nostril contiguous with eye; at most 24 olfactory lamellae; skin naked or spinulose (Ref. 86949).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

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).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Oviparous (Ref. 36493).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

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. (Ref. 40877)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 09 May 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
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Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
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Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
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Egg(s)
Egg developments
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Distribution
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Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
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Otoliths
Physiology
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Nutrients
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Swimming type
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Visual pigment(s)
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References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 3.1 - 19.7, mean 7.4 °C (based on 4346 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5312   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01995 (0.00906 - 0.04395), b=3.01 (2.83 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.1   ±0.69 se; based on food items.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).