The Celebes monkfish (''Sladenia remiger'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lophiidae, the goose fishes, monkfishes or anglers. This species is found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

Taxonomy

The Celebes monkfish was first formally described in 1912 by the American zoologists Hugh McCormick Smith and Lewis Radcliffe with its

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as the Gulf of Tomini,

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

in Indonesia. The genus '' Sladenia'' is one of 4 extant genera in the family Lophiidae which the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' classifies in the monotypic

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Lophioidei Goosefishes are anglerfishes in the family Lophiidae found in the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, where they live on sandy and muddy bottoms of the continental shelf and continental slope, to depths of more than . Like most oth ...

within the order Lophiiformes.

Etymology

The Celebes monkfish has the genus name ''Sladenai'' which honours

Percy Sladen Walter Percy Sladen (30 June 1849 – 11 June 1900) was an English biologist who specialised in starfish. The son of a wealthy leather merchant, Sladen was born near Halifax, Yorkshire on 30 June 1849. He was educated at Hipperholme Grammar Sc ...

, the British echinoderm biologist. The holotype of ''S. gardineri'' was collected during an expedition funded by his memorial trust. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''remiger'' means “bearing oars”, an allusion Smith and Radcliffe did not explain but is likely to refer to the paddle-like pectoral fins.

Description

The Celebes monkfish has a rounded, rather than being flattned, head and front part of the body, tapering towards the caudal fin. There are fewer spines on the sides and top of the head compared to other Lophiids. The ridges on the frontal bones are smooth. There are only three dorsal spines, two on the head and a single spine behind the head.The front spine is the Illicium, or “fishing rod”. The second dorsal fin contains nine soft rays while the

anal fin 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 ...

has seven. The overall colour is greyish brown. This species has a largest published total length of .

Distribution and habitat

The Celebes monkfish was known from only the holotype, however, it is now know to be widespread in the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans with records from The Exmouth Plateau to the North West Cape in Western Australia, the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

off Queensland, from off Tasmania, from the Kermadec Ridge and Hawaii. This species has been found at depths between in rocky reefs on the continental slope and on

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2186691 Celebes monkfish Fish described in 1912 Taxa named by Hugh McCormick Smith Taxa named by Lewis Radcliffe