John H Caruso

ABSTRACT Recent research cruises to deep (80–910 m) reef habitats off the south-eastern U.S. and in the northern Gulf of Mexico have provided new information on the diagnostic characteristics, behaviours, colour patterns in life, bottom associations, distributions and maximum sizes of species of the anglerfish genera Chaunax, Lophiodes and Sladenia. Chaunax stigmaeus occurred much further south than previously known (Blake Plateau off South Carolina), and all C. stigmaeus observed were found associated with dense beds of dead coral (Lophelia pertusa) rubble or on broken hard bottom. In contrast, Chaunax suttkusi was found on soft bottoms. Chaunax stigmaeus and C. suttkusi appear to be sympatric over a major portion of their ranges. Because knowledge of pigmentation in live or freshly caught Chaunax is critical to distinguish some members of the genus, changes in the colouration of C. suttkusi were noted and documented photographically immediately after death and after fixation. The yellow spots found on some, but not all specimens, temporarily disappeared completely after death, but they reappeared after fixation, slowly disappearing thereafter along with other carotenoid pigments. Lophiodes beroe and Lophiodes monodi were collected for the first time off the Atlantic coast of the U.S., being previously known only from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the northern coast of South America. For both species (L. beroe and L. monodi), the collections included the two largest known representatives of the species (400 and 325 mm standard length, respectively). Lophiodes beroe commonly occurred on L. pertusa rubble, and seemed to prefer this habitat. Occupying such a habitat that is deep and difficult to sample probably explains how this common species escaped detection. Only a single L. monodi was collected or observed, so this species appears to be uncommon in this geographic area or at least so on coral rubble habitat. Detailed aspects of the colour patterns of both species were noted. In particular, L. beroe displayed a characteristic pattern of white patches in life that were not apparent after death. The first photographic documentation of the colour pattern in life and of the pharyngeal pigmentation of Lophiodes reticulatus is provided. The third known specimen of Sladenia shaefersi, and the first to be taken in U.S. waters was collected from coral rubble near the base of a steep 200 m scarp on the Blake Plateau.

THE family Lophiidae contains 25 known species distributed among four genera (Caruso, 1981): Sladenia Regan (3 species); Lo-phiodes Goode and Bean (13 species); Lophiomus Gill (1 species); and Lophius Linnaeus (8 species). Although revisions of these genera have ...

-, AND EE WILLIAMS. 1957. Revision of the African tortoises and turtles of the suborder Cryp-todira. Ibid. 115:163-557. MARTIN, PS 1966. Africa and Pleistocene overkill. Nature 212:339-342. RAGE, JG 1973. Fossil snakes from Olduvai, Tan-zania, p. 1-6. In: Fossil ...

AXTELL, RW 1972. Hybridization between west-ern collared lizards with a proposed taxonomic rearrangement. Copeia 1972:707-727. MAYR, E. 1969. Principles of systematic zoology. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. MONTANUCCI, RR 1970. Analysis of hybridization ...

FRIED, B. & CARUSO, J. H. 1970. HIistologic observations on the intestine of Echinostoma revolutum and its ingesta. Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 89: 110-112. Histologic observations on the intestine of Echinostoma revolutum and its ingesta suggested that worms from the chick gut fed primarily on host mucosal cells and only incidentally on blood whereas chorioallantoic-echinostomes fed primarily on blood. The continuous gastrodermis of worms consisted of columnar, transitional and squamous cells in guts containing food, and predominantly columnar cells where food was absent, suggesting functional differences of gastrodermal cells associated with host ingesta.

The demersal fish fauna of Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) coral reefs and associated hard-bottom biotopes was investigated at two depth horizons in the northern Gulf of Mexico using a manned submersible and remote sampling. The Viosca Knoll fauna consisted of at least 53 demersal fish species, 37 of which were documented by submersible video. On the 325 m horizon, dominant taxa determined from frame-by-frame video analysis included Stromateidae, Serranidae, Trachichthyidae, Congridae, Scorpaenidae, and Gadiformes. On the 500 m horizon, large mobile visual macrocarnivores of families Stromateidae and Serranidae dropped out, while a zeiform microcarnivore assumed importance on reef “Thicket” biotope, and the open-slope taxa Macrouridae and Squalidae gained in importance. The most consistent faunal groups at both depths included sit-and-wait and hover-and-wait strategists (Scorpaenidae, Congridae, Trachichthyidae), along with generalized mesocarnivores (Gadiformes). The specialized ...

The distinctive but little known lophiid genus, Sladenia, was described by Regan (1908) from a single specimen, which he named S. gardineri, collected at a depth of 900 meters off Solomon Island in the Chagos Archipelago. Four years after Regan's (1908) description, a second ...

The octocoral disease aspergillosis is caused by the terrestrial fungus Aspergillus sydowii. The possibility of secondary (horizontal) transmission of aspergillosis among common sea fans Gorgonia ventalina would require waterborne transmission of hyphae and/or spores. A laboratory filtration experiment confirmed that fungal hyphae and spores were shed into the water by infected fans. This suggests that secondary infection might be possible in this species. It remains to be determined whether healthy fans actually develop aspergillosis after contact with hyphae-laden water.

1977. Trans. No. 22. (Available Southwest Fish-eries Center, NMFS, NOAA, Honolulu, Hawaii.) TURNER, BJ, AND DJ GROSSE. 1980. Trophic differentiation in Ilyodon, a genus of stream-dwell-ing goodeid fishes: speciation versus ecological polymorphism. Evolution ...

AXTELL, RW 1972. Hybridization between west-ern collared lizards with a proposed taxonomic rearrangement. Copeia 1972:707-727. MAYR, E. 1969. Principles of systematic zoology. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. MONTANUCCI, RR 1970. Analysis of hybridization ...