Malthopsis austrafricana, Southern African triangular batfish

Malthopsis austrafricana Ho, 2013

Southern African triangular batfish
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Malthopsis austrafricana   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Malthopsis austrafricana (Southern African triangular batfish)
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drawing shows typical species in Ogcocephalidae.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Lophiiformes (Anglerfishes) > Ogcocephalidae (Batfishes)
Etymology: Malthopsis: Greek, malthe, es = a marine fish of soft flesh (Ref. 45335); austrafricana: Named for southern Africa, the area where the type series was collected.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 170 - 700 m (Ref. 94126). Tropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Indian Ocean: off South Africa, Mozambique and Madagascar.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 8.4 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 94126)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

This species is distinguished by the following set of characters: body covered with conical bucklers and numerous prickles; long rostrum (mean 8.3% SL) is stout, pointed, with a broad base, directed forward horizontally; top of head with 3 irregular rows of bucklers; ventral surface of disk is densely covered by prickles and small flat bucklers, some have slightly larger and denser bucklers on breast than on belly; blunt subopercular buckler without well-developed spines; small orbit (mean 12.5% SL); small spinelets on the tips of both post-subopercular bucklers; broad interorbital space (mean 8.4% SL), forming a deep groove; OD/RL = 1.1-1.9; OD/IO = 1.3-1.7; when depressed, anal fin reaches or is beyond caudal-fin base (Ref. 94126).
Body shape (shape guide): other (see remarks); Cross section: flattened.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Ho, Hsuan-Ching | Collaborators

Ho, H.-C., 2013. Two new species of the batfish genus Malthopsis (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from the Western Indian Ocean. Zootaxa 3716:289-300. (Ref. 94126)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 13 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |