New Angler/frog Species

[ox5477]

NY Times

 

[PRW1988]

Interesting, although the article isn't 100% accurate as even anglerfish retract their lures when they're not in search of food.

 

[Nix]

Bye bye damsel.

 

[darknirvana217]

They may retract the lures, but they are still visible. This species simply doesn't have any. Neat fish though. It would make me convert to salt water.

 

[paul_219]

Bye bye old fishie say ur prayers.

 

[andywg]

"Retract" is not an ideal verb to use here. Anglerfish (at least those of family Antenneriidae) have a "rod" (ilicium - formed from the first spine of the dorsal fin) with a "lure" (esca) on the end of it. The esca is waved about by moving the ilicium (with different species appearing to utilise different techniques). The main articulation of the lure is as a hinge, that is it swings forwards in front of the head, and can be placed back so that it sits along the skin.

I seem to recall that a few species have dermal flaps that cover the lure, but these have not been present on the specimens I have kept. There are quite a few species of frogfish that have tiny lures to the point that they are barely noticable, and I am fairly sure that some are dexcribed as lacking a lure.

The article is a bit misleading as all frogfish prefer to walk than swim and many of them cram into crevices, or siddle up next to corals and sponges before changing their colour to match their new home. I may drop Ted Pietsch an email to see if I can get more information on this fish.

 

[ox5477]

Cool andy. If you get some more info then please post. Would be cool to read about

 

[andywg]

I have got a response from Ted who states that the luring apparatus is completely missing. Truly bizarre!

For some more info, try here

 

[darknirvana217]

I believe the most interesting thing here is less of a missing lure and yet the fact that this is the only fish that looks forward, leading to the possibility of binocular vision. Binocular vision causes stereopsis, which is the visual perception of depth. Several predators including humans have this type of vision but it has never been seen in a fish before.

 

[andywg]

Looking at the picture of the fish with its mouth open (which really makes me think it is a frogfish or close realtive) I am not sure quite how forward facing the eyes are compared to frogfish. When I get home I will try and find some photos that show how other frogfish species' eyes are set, but I think our preception may be distorted somewhat by the picture with the face head on.

 

[darknirvana217]

There was another article from a different source written about this species that went into more anatomical detail about its lure and eye position, I'll see if I can find it again.


EDIT: Here its is, I posted it up in the general discussion a few weeks ago.

http/news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/strang...ayseelikehumans