Acentrophryne longidens
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| Acentrophryne longidens | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Lophiiformes |
| Family: | Linophrynidae |
| Genus: | Acentrophryne |
| Species: | A. longidens |
| Binomial name | |
| Acentrophryne longidens Regan, 1926 | |
Acentrophryne longidens is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Linophryidae, the leftvents, a family of deep sea anglerfishes. This species is only known from the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Costa Rica and Panama.
Evolutionary history
Acentrophryne longidens was first formally described in 1926 by the English ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan with its type locality given as 7°30'N, 79°19'W in the Gulf of Panama from a depth of around 1,250 m (4,100 ft), the holotype being collected by the Danish research vessel Dana.[2] When Regan described this species he proposed that it be placed in the new monospecific genus Acentrophryne, making it the type species of that genus by monotypy.[3] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus in the family Linophrynidae, within the suborder Ceratioidei, the deep sea anglerfishes, of the anglerfish order Lophiiformes.[4]
Acentrophryne longidens is one of two species in the genus Acentophryne. This genus 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 'this species but its identity is now left open as Acentrophryne sp. as it was somewhat intermediate between this species and Acentrophryne dolichonema. 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.[5]
Etymology
Acentrophryne longidens belongs to the genus Acentophryne, a name that 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. The specific name, longidens, means "long teeth" an allusion to the long and robust teeth in both jaws of this species.[6]