''Phyllorhinichthys'' is a genus of dreamers. Like other oneirodids, they are small, bathypelagic fish with bioluminescent lures. ''Phyllorhinichthys'' is unique amongst the deep-sea anglerfish in having a pair of fleshy, leaf-like structures on its snout.

Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * '' Phyllorhinichthys balushkini'' Pietsch, 2004 * '' Phyllorhinichthys micractis'' Pietsch, 1969

Distribution and habitat

''Phyllorhinichthys micractis'' has been collected from all three major

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

s from a maximum depth of 3500 meters, ranging from near

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, to the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. ''P. balushkini'' has only been collected in the Atlantic Ocean, ranging from the north to the tropics from a maximum depth of 3200 meters.

Description

Adult female ''Phyllorhinichthys'' have a short, somewhat globulose body, entirely dark brown to black in color. In smaller specimens (8.8-18.3 mm), there is a distinct band of

melanophore Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. Mammals and birds, in cont ...

s on the

caudal peduncle Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. The mouth is small and oblique, with slender, depressible teeth; the teeth are slightly larger but fewer in the lower jaw. The illicium ("fishing rod") is short; the escal bulb ("lure") is internally pigmented on the upper half and unpigmented on the lower, and bears internally pigmented appendages with silvery tips. The most distinctive feature of the genus are a pair of translucent leaf-like flaps on the snout, forward of the eyes and flanking the esca. Each flap has a central opaque nerve fiber running from the base to the tip. In some specimens, there is another, smaller pair of similar flaps placed above the main pair. Males and larvae have yet to be encountered. The two species of ''Phyllorhinichthys'' are differentiated by the length of the illicium and details of the esca.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2289494 Oneirodidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Theodore Wells Pietsch III