''Gigantactis paxtoni'' (common name: Paxton's whipnose) is a species of fish in the whipnose angler (Gigantactinidae) family, first described in 1981 by

Erik Bertelsen Erik Bertelsen (8 August 1912 – 18 March 1993) was a Danish ichthyologist, who specialised in deep sea fish. The fish, '' Diaphus bertelseni'' is named in his honour. He studied biology at the University of Copenhagen (1930 -) and in 1937 start ...

Theodore Wells Pietsch III Theodore Wells Pietsch III (born March 6, 1945) is an American systematist and evolutionary biologist especially known for his studies of anglerfishes. Pietsch has described 72 species and 14 genera of fishes and published numerous scientific p ...

and

Robert J. Lavenberg The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

. The species epithet, ''paxtoni'', honours

John Paxton John Paxton (May 21, 1911, Kansas City, Missouri – January 5, 1985, Santa Monica, California) was an American screenwriter. Some of his films include ''Murder, My Sweet'' in 1944, '' Cornered'' in 1945, ''Crossfire'' in 1947 (an adaptation ...

of the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

. The species is known from 18 females, most of which were caught off

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and the south-east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at depths of . It differs from other species in this genus by having filaments on the dorsal surface of the head just behind the base of the illicium (the long filament looking like an angler's line and lure) and by its body shape, and large teeth.

References

Further reading