Pancake batfish

The pancake batfish (Halieutichthys aculeatus) belongs to the batfish family Ogcocephalidae.[2] Their distributrition includes western Atlantic, North Carolina, northern Gulf of Mexico to northern South America. They inhabit a subtropical, sandy, reef-associated, and 45–820 m deep environment.[3]

Pancake batfish
Halieutichthys aculeatus, conventional and X-ray images

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Ogcocephalidae
Genus: Halieutichthys
Species:
H. aculeatus
Binomial name
Halieutichthys aculeatus
(Mitchill, 1818)

They live on the bottom of the ocean, covered in sand. The fish are flat, resembling pancakes with a maximum size of ca. 10 cm.[3] They feed on small snails, clams, crustaceans, scallops, worms, and occasionally on small fishes. Their eggs and larvae are pelagic and develop upon reaching the bottom.[1]

Two new species of Halieutichthys batfish were discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, in the region directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The two species were named Halieutichthys intermedius and Halieutichthys bispinosus.[4]

References
  1. Carpenter, K.E. (2015). Halieutichthys aculeatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T20664078A20682768.en
  2. "Species Halieutichthys aculeatus Mitchill 1818". FishWisePro. 1818. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  3. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Halieutichthys aculeatus" in FishBase. February 2006 version.
  4. "New batfish species found under Gulf oil spill". Yahoo! News. July 8, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-07-11. Retrieved 9 July 2010.


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