FAMILY Details for Gigantactinidae

Family Gigantactinidae - Whipnose anglers
Order	:	Lophiiformes
Class	:	Teleostei
No. in FishBase	:	Genera : 2 \| Species : 24 Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes
Environment	:	Fresh : No \| Brackish : No \| Marine : Yes
Division	:	Marine
Aquarium	:	none
First Fossil Record	:
Remark	:	From Nelson (1994). Distribution: Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. Females with elongate body. Length of illicium almost that of body or longer. Upper jaw jutting slightly past the lower jaw. Pectoral radials 5. Dorsal fin rays 3-10. Anal fin rays 3-8. Caudal fin rays 9. (Ref. 7463) Other distinguishing characters: Indicating a comparatively higher level of locomotion, the female body is slender, laterally compressed, streamlined, with a relatively short head, and long, narrow caudal peduncle; large horizontal mouth, the cleft terminating past the eye; small pectoral fins; the caudal fin usually deeply cleft at its posterior margin, almost always with 1 or 2 greatly extended dorsal- and ventral-most rays; unusually large and laterally compressed illicial pterygiophore; illicium very extended (highly variable lengths from 40 - 490% SL; full relative length at 3 cm SL); dentition highly variable; very large, well ossified, and heavily toothed second and third pharyngobranchials set in a forward position in the roof of the mouth; acoustico-lateralis system set on serially connected short stalks of pigmented skin along narrow unpigmented grooves; hypertrophied illicial pterygiophore, illicium and upper pharyngeals; vomer, pterosphenoids, mesopterygoids, and ossified scapulae all absent; supraethmoid and parietals much reduced or absent; sphenotic, quadrate, articular, angular, and preopercular spines all absent; the preopercle, interopercle, opercle, and subopercle all shrunken into small, thin bony struts; ligament connecting the interopercle and the angular is also absent; simple dentaries attached at the symphysis by thick elastic connective tissue, with no posterior bifurcation and lacking a symphysial spine; long and narrow premaxillae (well ossified in Gigantactis and much reduced in Rhynchactis) and lacking ascending or postmaxillary processes; maxillae may be absent or reduced to threadlike ossifications. Metamorphosed males with uniquely small eyes (3 to 5% SL diameter), large olfactory organs (8 to 10% SL depth); anteriorly directed and closely set anterior nostrils; well developed maxillae but degenerate premaxillae; almost all, if not all, denticular teeth mutually free; the upper denticular bone with no connection to the illicial pterygiophore, teeth count: 3 - 6 (rarely 2); lower denticular with 4 - 7 teeth (rarely 3); skin may be naked or densely covered with dermal spinules; males free-living, evidently nonparasitic. Larvae distinguished by extraordinarily large pectoral fins (45 to 55% SL); somewhat short, spherical body; highly inflated skin; sexual dimorphism occurring even in youngest larvae (females with a small, club-shaped illicial rudiment on the head; metamorphosis commences at 0.8 to 1.0 cm; subsequent developmental stages at 0.9 to 2.0 cm size range. Dorsal-fin rays: 3 to 9, anal-fin rays: 3 to 7, pectoral-fin rays: 14 to 22, and caudal-fin rays: 9 (extremely short ventral-most ray under the skin of the adjacent ray). Largest known female measures 43.5 cm (not yet sexually mature). Largest known male 2.2 cm. (Ref. 86949)
Etymology	:	Greek, 'gigas' or 'gigantos' = gigantic + Greek, 'aktis' = ray (referring to the unusually long first dorsal-fin spine that functions as a lure in this genus) (Ref. 86949)
Reproductive guild	:	nonguarders
Typical activity level	:
Main Ref.	:	Nelson, J.S. 1994
Coordinator	:
Deep Fin Classification	:	Osteichthyes \| Actinopterygii \| Actinopteri \| Neopterygii \| Teleostei \| Osteoglossocephalai \| Clupeocephala \| Euteleosteomorpha \| Neoteleostei \| Eurypterygia \| Ctenosquamata \| Acanthomorphata \| Acanthopterygii \| Percomorphaceae \| Eupercaria \| \| \| Lophiiformes \| Ceratioidei \| \| Gigantactinidae

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Species/Synonymy list for the family Gigantactinidae as currently in FishBase

Important recommendation:

The list below must not be used as an authority reference synonymy list like those found in scientific published revisions, which must be the source to be used and cited eventually when they exist.

Rather, it reflects the current content of FishBase, and the progress with respect to synchronization with the Catalog of Fishes. However, we think it can be useful for users to assess the quality of information in FishBase, to start new work on the family, or to cross-check with other lists.

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The list ordered as follows:

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Type genus of the family first (or of subfamily when subfamilies are recognized) then other genera by chronological order of description (and alphabetical order).
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Scientifc name	Status	Senior/Junior synonym	Combination
Gigantactis vanhoeffeni Brauer, 1902	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis exodon Regan & Trewavas, 1932	synonym	junior	original
Gigantactis perlatus (non Beebe & Crane, 1947)	misapplied	misapplied	original
Gigantactis gracilicauda Regan, 1925	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis sexfilis Regan & Trewavas, 1932	synonym	junior	original
Gigantactis macronema Regan, 1925	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis microphthalmus (Regan & Trewavas, 1932)	accepted	senior	new
Teleotrema microphthalmus Regan & Trewavas, 1932	synonym	senior	original
Gigantactis longicirra Waterman, 1939	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis perlatus Beebe & Crane, 1947	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis elsmani Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis gargantua Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis gibbsi Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis golovani Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis herwigi Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis ios Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis kreffti Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis meadi Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis microdontis Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis paxtoni Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis savagei Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis watermani Bertelsen, Pietsch & Lavenberg, 1981	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis balushkini Kharin, 1984	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis longicauda Bertelsen & Pietsch, 2002	accepted	senior	original
Gigantactis cheni Ho & Shao, 2019	accepted	senior	original
Rhynchactis leptonema Regan, 1925	accepted	senior	original
Rhynchactis macrothrix Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1998	accepted	senior	original
Rhynchactis microthrix Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1998	accepted	senior	original