Acentrophryne is a genus of deep-sea anglerfish in the family Linophrynidae, the leftvents, known from the eastern Pacific Ocean. Fossils of the type species, A. longidens, have been found in Late Miocene strata of Rosedale, California.

Acentrophryne
Temporal range: Late Miocene to Recent
A. longidens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Linophrynidae
Genus: Acentrophryne
Regan, 1926
Type species
Acentrophryne longidens
Regan, 1926

Taxonomy

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Acentrophryne was firs proposed as a monospecific genus in 1926 by the English ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan when he described Acentrophryne longidens as a new species.[1] A. longidens was described by Regan from a holotype collected at 7°30'N, 79°19'W in the Gulf of Panama from a depth of around 1,250 m (4,100 ft) by the Danish research vessel Dana.[2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus within the family Linophrynidae, which it places within the suborder Ceratioidei, the deep sea anglerfishes, within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.[3]

Etymology

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Acentrophryne prefixes a, meaning "without", to kentron, meaning "spine", a reference to the lack of a spine on the preoperculum. This is then suffixed with phryne, which means "toad", commonly used in the names of anglerfish genera. Its use may date as far back as Aristotle and Cicero, who referred to anglerfishes as “fishing-frogs” and “sea-frogs,” respectively, possibly because of their resemblance to frogs and toads.[4]

Species

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Acentrophryne contains the following recognized valid species:[5]

Characteristics

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Acentrophryne is known only from metamorphosed females; the males and larvae are unknown. These females differ from the other genera of leftvents by the absence of a spine on the preoperculum. They also have no spines on the frontal, epiotic, and posttemporal bones and a smaller number of teeth, 6 to 26 premaxillary teeth and 9 to 16 on each side of the lower jaw. These teeth are very long and are arranged in two or three series of oblique rows, which overlap. There are also between 2 and 6 teeth on the vomer. The ninth ray of the caudal fin is around half the length of the eighth. The illicium has a length that is equivalent to between 35.7% and 70.5% of the standard length, and the esca has one distal appendage, which lacks pigment. There is no hyoid barbel. Apart from the distal appendage, these fishes are uniformly black.[6] The largest species in the genus is A. dolichonema with a maximum published standard length of 10.5 cm (4.1 in).[5]

Distribution and habitat

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Acentrophryne leftvents are known only from the eastern Pacific Ocean, where they have been recorded off Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Peru at depths between 201 and 1,280 m (659 and 4,199 ft).[7][8]

Fossil record

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Acentophryne is known from the fossil record as a single specimen was found in 1977 from a Miocene diatomaceous deposit in the Puente Hills of Southern California. This was initially tentatively identified as being A. longidens but its identity is now left open as Acentrophryne sp.. Acentrophryne leftvents are endemic to the eastern Pacific and are adapted to low oxygen environments. The fossil specimen from California suggests that this genus originated in the Miocene and that hypoxic environments were more widespread in the eastern Pacific, as these reduced the genus underwent a contraction in its distribution and subsequent allopatric speciation.[9]

References

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Drawing of A. dolichonema
  1. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Linophrynidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  2. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Acentrophryne". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  3. ^ Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 508–518. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. LCCN 2015037522. OCLC 951899884. OL 25909650M.
  4. ^ Christopher Scharpf (19 August 2024). "Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 2): Families CAULOPHRYNIDAE, NEOCERATIIDAE, MELANOCETIDAE, HIMANTOLOPHIDAE, DICERATIIDAE, ONEIRODIDAE, THAUMATICHTHYIDAE, CENTROPHRYNIDAE, CERATIIDAE, GIGANTACTINIDAE and LINOPHRYNIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  5. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Acentrophryne". FishBase. June 2024 version.
  6. ^ Pietsch, Theodore; Shimazaki, Mitsuomi; D. Buth (2005). "Revision of the Deep-Sea Anglerfish Genus Acentrophryne Regan (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei: Linophrynidae), with the Description of a New Species from off Peru". Copeia. 2005 (2): 246–251. doi:10.1643/CH-04-291R.
  7. ^ Carpenter, K.E. & Robertson, R. (2019). "Acentrophryne longidens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T140156007A140323003. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T140156007A140323003.en. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  8. ^ Carpenter, K.E. & Robertson, R. (2019). "Acentrophryne dolichonema". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T140151138A140322998. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T140151138A140322998.en. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  9. ^ Giorgio Carnevale; Theordore W. Pietsch (12 June 2009). "The deep-sea anglerfish genus Acentrophryne (Teleostei, Ceratioidei, Linophrynidae) in the Miocene of California" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (2): 372–378. doi:10.1671/039.029.0232. ISSN 0272-4634. Wikidata Q114229338.