Monacoa is a genus of fish in the family Opisthoproctidae[1] found in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They are also known as long-nosed mirrorbellies[2] or mirrorbelly spookfish, in reference to the bioluminescent organ in their intestines.[3][unreliable source?] The largest species, Monacoa grimaldii, can grow to 8 cm (3.1 in) standard length.[4]
| Monacoa | |
|---|---|
| |
| Monacoa grimaldii | |
| |
| The "sole" is useful in identifying the different Monacoa species | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Argentiniformes |
| Family: | Opisthoproctidae |
| Genus: | Monacoa Whitley, 1943 |
| Type species | |
| Opisthoproctus grimaldii Zugmayer, 1911
| |
Species
editUntil 2016, Monacoa was thought to be a synonym of Opisthoproctus, but in 2016 the name was resurrected and it was determined that there are 3 distinct species in the genus. Monacoa griseus and Monacoa niger are distinguished from M. grimaldii due to differences in the pigmentation of their "soles". An examination of their complete mitochondrial genomes further proves the species are distinct.[2]
There are currently 3 recognized species in this genus:[4]
- Monacoa grimaldii (Zugmayer, 1911) (mirrorbelly) [B]
- Monacoa griseus J. Y. Poulsen, Sado, C. Hahn, Byrkjedal, Moku & Miya, 2016 (grey mirrorbelly)[2] [C & D]
- Monacoa niger J. Y. Poulsen, Sado, C. Hahn, Byrkjedal, Moku & Miya, 2016 (black mirrorbelly)[2] [A]
References
edit- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Monacoa". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d Poulsen, Jan Yde; Sado, Tetsuya; Hahn, Christoph; Byrkjedal, Ingvar; Moku, Masatoshi & Miya, Masaki (2016). "Preservation obscures pelagic deep-sea fish diversity: doubling the number of sole-bearing opisthoproctids and resurrection of the genus Monacoa (Opisthoproctidae, Argentiniformes)". PLOS ONE. 11 (8): e0159762. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159762. PMC 4980007. PMID 27508419.
- ^ Robin Meadows (August 10, 2016). "Two new species of deep-sea fish may communicate with light shining from their bellies]". PLOS RESEARCH NEWS. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Monacoa". FishBase. February 2022 version.
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