Halieutaea indica, the Indian batfish, Indian handfish or Indian seabat, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Ogcocephalidae, the deep sea batfishes. The Indian batfish has a wide Indo-West Pacific distribution.
| Halieutaea indica | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Lophiiformes |
| Family: | Ogcocephalidae |
| Genus: | Halieutaea |
| Species: | H. indica
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| Binomial name | |
| Halieutaea indica Annandale & J. T. Jenkins, 1910
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| Synonyms[2] | |
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Taxonomy
editHalieutaea indica was first formally described in 1910 by the British naturalists Nelson Annandale and James Travis Jenkins with the type locality given as the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Orissa in India.[3] The genus Halieutaea is the sister group to the other two clades, the Indo-Pacific clade and the Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic clade, of the family Ogcocephalidae.[4] The family Ogcocephalidae is classified in the monotypic suborder Ogcocephaloidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[5]
Etymology
editHalieutaea indica has the genus name Halieutaea which is Greek for "angler" or "fishermam", a reference to the habit of these fishes of resting on the bottom and using their lures to attract prey towards them. The specific name, indica, means "Indian", referring to the type locality.[6]
Description
editHalieutaea indica has a disc shaped body which is circular and which is almost equally wide as it is long. The snout may just extend past the edge of the disc. There are 2 paddle shaped paddles of teeth on the tongue. The upper body is covered with medium-sized onee or two pointed tubercles with no enlarged granular tubercles on the sides of the tail. The lower body is naked or has many widely spaced granular spinules.[7] The dorsal and anal fins each have 4 soft rays. The overall colour is pinkish to brownish yellow with a reddish ventral side. The pectoral fins are orange with a white bar running across them and there are 2 brownish bars on the caudal fin.[8] The Indian seabat has a maximum published total length of 15 cm (5.9 in).[2]
Distribution and habitat
editHalieutaea indica has a wide Indo-West Pacific distribution. It is found from eastern Africa from the Gulf of Aden south to South Africa,[7] east through the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar and the Seychelles, into the Pacific Ocean, north to southern Japan and south to Australia. In Australia it is found at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and off Western Australia and the Northern Territory.[8] It is a demersal fish which occurs on muddy substrates on the continental shelf and upper continental margin at depths between 20 and 500 m (66 and 1,640 ft).[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Ho, H. (2020). "Halieutaea indica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T140331165A140859587. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T140331165A140859587.en. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Halieutaea indica". FishBase. February 2024 version.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Halieutaea". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Valerie Derouen; William B. Ludt; Hsuan-Ching Ho; Prosanta Chakrabarty (2015). "Examining evolutionary relationships and shifts in depth preferences in batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 84: 27–33. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.12.011.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Christopher Scharpf (14 November 2022). "Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 1): Families LOPHIIDAE, ANTENNARIIDAE, TETRABRACHIIDAE, LOPHICHTHYIDAE, BRACHIONICHTHYIDAE, CHAUNACIDAE and OGCOCEPHALIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
- ^ a b Theodore W Pietsch (2022). "Order Lophiiformes". In Phillip C Heemstra; Elaine Heemstra; David A Ebert; Wouter Holleman; John E Randall (eds.). Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean (PDF). Vol. 2. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. pp. 281–307. ISBN 978-1-990951-29-9.
- ^ a b Bray, D.J. (2021). "Halieutaea indica". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 18 May 2024.