Bray, D.J. 2019, Chaunacops coloratus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 12 Dec 2019, http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5361
The overall focus of this scientific article investigates is a rare form of the deep-sea anglerfish, in the eastern North Pacific, Chaunacops coloratus. Scientists believe that the Chaunax and Chaunacops are closely related. Keywords of this article include: Deep-sea, ROV, Chaunacidae, Lophiiformes, Seamount, and Phylogeny. The deep-sea is the habitat of our target species because they live in depths of 1789 meters down the ocean surface. ROV is a highly maneuverable underwater robot that can be used to explore ocean depths using videography while being operated by someone at the water surface. Chaunacidae is a family of sea toads and coffinfishes are a family of deep-sea anglerfishes. Lophiiformes is our target order of marine fishes that are primitively benthic shallow-water dwellers. A seamount is a submarine mountain on the ocean floor that houses our target species, Chaunacops coloratus. The term phylogeny is important in this article because scientists are using DNA sequences, behavioral observations and phenotyping to build a phylogenetic tree to distinguish different characteristics, features and behaviors of the Lophiiformes order. The hypothesis of this scientific article insists that the Chaunacops coloratus, the family Chaunacidae and Chaunax share a close-knit relationship. These families show homologous characteristics witnessed in situ behavior, color of C. coloratus, depth distribution of this rarely encountered species and utilization of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences to further assess phylogenetic relationships within the Chaunacoidei. There were collectively 7 observations discovered of C. coloratus to individualize this species. The use of video surveillance, red lasers, ROV suction samplers, DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing, and the program GenBank were used in the methodology to analyze the new inferred species. Morphometric analyses contrasted with previous scientific research of the Lophiiformes order. Genetic analyses concluded that the new results suggested that within the Chaunacidae, Chaunax were most closely related to C. coloratus, which supports one of the hypotheses that similar morphological characteristics consider them relatives.In conclusion, within the family Chaunacidae there are two recognized generas: Chaunax and Chaunacops. The results founded from this researched differed from previous research done by Miya et al. (2010) and Shedlock et al. (2004) at which they hypothesized that Ceratiodei were most closely related to the Chaunacoidei. Scientists discovered that these fish inhabited manganese-encrusted volcanic talus slopes, they could undergo ontogenetic color changes in which small fish were blue and large fish were red, and they displayed rapid locomotion including vertical swimming or walking using pectoral or pelvic fins and esca deployment. These finding apply to broader issues in the world because the deep blue sea houses an array of species that are not yet classified and evaluated. By investigating homologous creatures, scientists can create phylogenetic trees and diagrams that can link other common species or even investigate and compare newly founded species. Further questions that can be investigated due to this research is whether molecular diversity reflects morphological diversity in the Chaunacoidei family. For instance, further DNA sequencing within the two families.
Lundsten, L., Johnson, S. B., Cailliet, G. M., Devogelaere, A. P., & Clague, D. A. (2012). Morphological, molecular, and in situ behavioral observations of the rare deep-sea anglerfish Chaunacops coloratus (), order Lophiiformes, in the eastern North Pacific. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 68, 46–53. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr.2012.05.012