Smooth Goosefish, Lophiodes mutilus (Alcock, 1893)

Scientific name: Lophiodes mutilus
<i>Lophiodes mutilus </i> Click to enlarge image
A Smooth Goosefish purchased at a fish shop in Campsie, Sydney, New South Wales by B. Yau, September 2005. The fish was trawled from the Australian east coast. Image: Sally Reader
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Lophiodes
    Species
    mutilus
    Family
    Lophiidae
    Order
    Lophiiformes
    Class
    Actinopterygii
    Subphylum
    Vertebrata
    Phylum
    Chordata
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    It grows to about 40 cm in length.

Introduction

The Smooth Goosefish has a huge depressed head and a jaws lined with long, pointed, depressable teeth. It lives at depths between 200 m and 800 m.

Identification

The Smooth Goosefish has a huge depressed head and a jaws lined with long, pointed, depressable teeth. There are numerous sharp spines on the head and fleshy tendrils on the lower jaw. The dorsal fin is made up of three isolated spines on the head and one or two short spines behind the head, which may be embedded beneath the skin. The first dorsal spine may be modified as a lure, with a simple esca distally.

The species is light to dark brown above and lighter brown below. The tendrils on the head are darker brown to black. The peritoneum is black.

Lophiodes mutilus
Lophiodes mutilus
Lophiodes mutilus

Habitat

The Smooth Goosefish is a benthic species that lives in continental shelf and slope waters (200 m to 800 m).

Distribution

The Smooth Goosefish occurs in tropical and temperate waters of the Indo-west Pacific.

In Australia it is known from off the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia, northern Queensland to southern New South Wales and off north-eastern Tasmania.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.

References

  1. Caruso, J.H. 1981. The systematics and distribution of the lophiid anglerfishes: 1. A revision of the genus Lophiodes with the description of two new species. Copeia. 3: 522-549.
  2. Caruso, J.H. 1999. Family Lophiidae . in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-vi, 1398-2068.