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Revision as of 19:48, 2 March 2008 editEubot (talk | contribs)259,670 editsm Removed taxobox colour. See User:Eubot/Removing colours from taxoboxen.← Previous edit Revision as of 16:28, 22 March 2009 edit undoBeno1000 (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers3,659 editsmNo edit summaryNext edit →
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The '''soft leafvent angler''', '''''Haplophryne mollis''''', is a ] species of fish of the family ]. The '''soft leafvent angler''', '''''Haplophryne mollis''''', is a ] species of fish of the family ].

==Reproduction==
Some anglerfishes of the superfamily ] employ an unusual mating method. Because individuals are presumably locally rare and encounters doubly so, finding a mate is problematic. When scientists first started capturing ceratioid anglerfish, they noticed that all of the specimens were females. These individuals were a few inches in size and almost all of them had what appeared to be ]s attached to them. It turned out that these "parasites" were the remains of male ceratioids.

At birth, male ceratioids are already equipped with extremely well developed ] that detect scents in the water. When it is mature, the male's ] system degenerates, making him incapable of feeding independently, which necessitates his quickly finding a female anglerfish to prevent his death. The sensitive olfactory organs help the male to detect the ]s that signal the proximity of a female anglerfish. When he finds a female, he bites into her skin, and releases an ] that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of ], which releases ] in response to ] in the female's bloodstream indicating ] release. This extreme ] ensures that, when the female is ready to spawn, she has a mate immediately available.<ref name="doran">{{cite web | url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v256/n5512/abs/256038a0.html | author = Theodore W. Pietsch | title = Precocious sexual parasitism in the deep sea ceratioid anglerfish, Cryptopsaras couesi Gill | dateformat = mdy | accessdate = 31 July 2008}}</ref>

The spawn of the anglerfish of the genus '']'' consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3 feet wide and 25 to 30 feet long. The eggs in this sheet are in a single layer, each in its own little cavity. The spawn is free in the sea. The larvae are free-swimming and have the pelvic fins elongated into filaments. Such an egg sheet is rare in fish.

<references/>


{{Wikispecies}} {{Wikispecies}}

Revision as of 16:28, 22 March 2009

Soft leafvent angler
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Linophrynidae
Genus: Haplophryne
Species: H. mollis
Binomial name
Haplophryne mollis
Brauer, 1902
Haplophryne mollis

The soft leafvent angler, Haplophryne mollis, is a sexually dimorphic species of fish of the family Linophrynidae.

Reproduction

Some anglerfishes of the superfamily Ceratioidei employ an unusual mating method. Because individuals are presumably locally rare and encounters doubly so, finding a mate is problematic. When scientists first started capturing ceratioid anglerfish, they noticed that all of the specimens were females. These individuals were a few inches in size and almost all of them had what appeared to be parasites attached to them. It turned out that these "parasites" were the remains of male ceratioids.

At birth, male ceratioids are already equipped with extremely well developed olfactory organs that detect scents in the water. When it is mature, the male's digestive system degenerates, making him incapable of feeding independently, which necessitates his quickly finding a female anglerfish to prevent his death. The sensitive olfactory organs help the male to detect the pheromones that signal the proximity of a female anglerfish. When he finds a female, he bites into her skin, and releases an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of gonads, which releases sperm in response to hormones in the female's bloodstream indicating egg release. This extreme sexual dimorphism ensures that, when the female is ready to spawn, she has a mate immediately available.

The spawn of the anglerfish of the genus Lophius consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3 feet wide and 25 to 30 feet long. The eggs in this sheet are in a single layer, each in its own little cavity. The spawn is free in the sea. The larvae are free-swimming and have the pelvic fins elongated into filaments. Such an egg sheet is rare in fish.

  1. Theodore W. Pietsch. "Precocious sexual parasitism in the deep sea ceratioid anglerfish, Cryptopsaras couesi Gill". Retrieved 31 July 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
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