Oneirodes Explained

Oneirodes is a genus of is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Oneirodidae, the dreamers, a family of deep sea anglerfishes. These predatory, deep-sea fishes are found around the world. This is the type genus, and the most speciose genus, of the family Oneirodidae. They are sexually dimorphic but, like most taxa within their family, the small males are free living and are not sexual parasites on the larger females. Only the females are used to identify the species in this genus as no species specific charaxcters have been found for males.

Taxonomy

Oneirodes was first proposed proposed as a monospecific genus in 1871 by the Danish zoologist and naturalist Christian Frederik Lütken when he described Oneirodes eschrichtii. Lütken gave the type locality of O. eschrichtii as off the western coast of Greenland. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus in the family Oneirodidae in the suborder Ceratioidei of the anglerfish order Lophiiformes.[1] Theodore Gill named the family Oneirodidae in 1878[2] with O. escherichtii as its only species, making Oneirodes the type genus of its family.[3]

Etymology

Oneirodes means "dream-like". Lütken did not explain this choice of name. David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann suggested in 1898 that the name referred to the small, skin-covered eyes. Alternatively, in 2009, Theodore Wells Pietsch III proposed that the name was given because the fish is "so strange and marvelous that it could only be imagined in the dark of the night during a state of unconsciousness”.[4]

Species

Oneirodes is the most speciose genus in the family Oneirodidae and has the following species classified within it:

Characteristics

Oneiriodes dreamers are characterised by having spines on the sphenotic bone, a deep incision on the rear edge of the operculum, and rod-shaped pelvic bones that are not expanded or expanded only slightly at the tips. The lobe of the pectoral fin is short and wide with the length of the lobe being less than that of the longest pelvic fin rays. There is a spine on the symphysis of the lower jaw and the lower margin of this symphysis is convex. The rays of the caudal fin have no internal pigmentation and the black skin on the caudal peduncle does not extend past the base of the caudal fin. The illicium merges from between the frontal bones, the frontal bones are curved on their upper margin, and the subopercular bone is short and wide with a nearly circular lower part. There are 4, occasionally 5, soft rays in the anal fin.[8] A unique character of the metamorphosed females of Oneirodes is that the posterior end of the pterygiophore of the illicium emerges from the skin on the back, behind the head.[9] The males have unpigmented skin between the nostrils, and the inner surface of the subopercle is also unpigmented. The caudal peduncle has no subdermal pigments, and there are between 7 and 13 denticles on the lower jaw.[10] The females range in standard length from, and the published species descriptions are based on females as there are no known morphological character that separate the males by species. The males are free-living and non-parasitic. Male specimens measure between .[8]

Distribution and habitat

Oneirodes dreamers are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are bathydemersal fishes found at depths between .

Notes and References

  1. Book: Nelson, J.S. . Joseph S. Nelson . Grande, T.C. . Wilson, M.V.H. . 2016 . Fishes of the World . 5th . . Hoboken, NJ . 508–518 . 978-1-118-34233-6 . 2015037522 . 951899884 . 25909650M . 10.1002/9781119174844.
  2. Richard van der Laan . William N. Eschmeyer . Ronald Fricke . amp . 2014 . Family-group names of recent fishes . Zootaxa . 3882 . 2 . 1–230. 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . 25543675 . free .
  3. Gill, Theodore . Theodore Gill . 1878 . Synopsis of the pediculate fishes of the eastern coast of extratropical North America . Proceedings of the United States National Museum . 1 . 30 . 215–221. 10.5479/si.00963801.1-30.215 .
  4. Web site: Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 2): Families CAULOPHRYNIDAE, NEOCERATIIDAE, MELANOCETIDAE, HIMANTOLOPHIDAE, DICERATIIDAE, ONEIRODIDAE, THAUMATICHTHYIDAE, CENTROPHRYNIDAE, CERATIIDAE, GIGANTACTINIDAE and LINOPHRYNIDAE . Christopher Scharpf . 3 June 2024 . 21 July 2024 . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf.
  5. Prokofiev, A.M. (2014): New and Rare Species of Deepsea Pelagic Fishes of Families Opisthoproctidae, Melanostomiidae, Oneirodidae, and Linophrynidae. Journal of Ichthyology, 54 (6): 377-383.
  6. Prokofiev, A.M. (2014): New Species and New Records of Deepsea Anglerfish of the Family Oneirodidae. Journal of Ichthyology, 54 (8): 602-607.
  7. Ho, H.-C., Kawai, T. & Amaoka, K. (2016): Records of deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) from Indonesia, with descriptions of three new species. Zootaxa, 4121 (3): 267–294.
  8. Theodore W. Pietsch . Theodore Wells Pietsch III . 1974 . Osteology and relationships of ceratioid anglerfishes of the family Oneirodidae, with a review of the genus Oneirodes Lütken . Science Bulletin, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County . 18 . 1–113 .
  9. Mincarone, Michael . Afonso, Gabriel . Di Dario, Fabio . Eduardo, Leandro . Fredou, Thierry . Lucena Frédou, Flavia . Bertrand, Arnaud . Pietsch, Theodore . 3 . 2021 . Deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) from off northeastern Brazil, with remarks on the ceratioids reported from the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone . Neotropical Ichthyology . 19 . 2 . e200151 . 10.1590/1982-0224-2020-0151.
  10. E. Bertelsen . Erik Bertelsen . Theodore W. Pietsch . Theodore Wells Pietsch III . and . 1983 . The Ceratioid Anglerfishes of Australia . Records of the Australian Museum . 35 . 2 . 77–93 . 10.3853/j.0067-1975.35.1983.303 .

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