Teleostei (teleosts) >
Lophiiformes (Anglerfishes) >
Gigantactinidae (Whipnose anglers)
Etymology: Gigantactis: 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).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 1005 - 1360 m (Ref. 86949). Deep-water
Eastern Atlantic.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 5.7 cm SL (female)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 5; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 5. Esca with a dense cluster of 14-16 short, lanceolate appendages, each with numerous tiny spherical inclusions, emerging from a distal patch of pigment (Ref. 41361); length of illicium 247-256% SL; escal bulb without distal prolongation; escal papillae absent; proximal escal papillae absent; short dentary teeth (longest 1.1-1.4% SL), arranged posteriorly in two longitudinal series; length of caudal fin rays less than 37% SL; weakly developed skin coverage of proximal part of caudal fin; caudal fin rays free nearly to base (Ref. 86949).
Known from 3 specimens, the biggest of which is an adolescent female measuring 5.7 cm SL (Ref. 41361).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae
Bertelsen, E., 1990. Gigantactinidae. p. 513-515. In J. C. Quero, J. C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1. (Ref. 10761)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01995 (0.00906 - 0.04395), b=3.01 (2.83 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.5 ±0.6 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).