Many hobbyists consider the Holanthias genus to be the bull headed oddity of the Serranidae family. While this may be true, the Meganthias genus makes Holanthias look like dwarves! The Meganthias genus was first “created” by Randall and Heemstra in 2006, based off two species previously described: Meganthias natalensis from South Africa (photo above) and [...]
Many hobbyists consider the Holanthias genus to be the bull headed oddity of the Serranidae family. While this may be true, the Meganthias genus makes Holanthias look like dwarves! The Meganthias genus was first “created” by Randall and Heemstra in 2006, based off two species previously described: Meganthias natalensis from South Africa (photo above) and Meganthias kingyo from the Ryuku Islands, Japan. Both species were originally placed in the Holanthias genus and later moved to the newly created Meganthias. As you can see from the M. natalensis photo above–this genus is truly unlike any other Sea Bass.
Since 2006, additional Meganthias have been discovered and described. Two species by the name M. carpentari were collected in the waters of Nigeria. Shown below is the vibrant pink Meganthias filiferus– latest species to join the Mega family, but it’s not as new as you’d think. T his extremely rare fish was known prior, but under a different name.
M. filiferus was originally captured in 1993 off the south western coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea, and tentatively identified as Holanthias chrystosticus. It was not until 2007 that Randall and Heemstra re-described the species from that holotype, citing morphological differences such as larger head proportions.
Roughly one year ago a single Meganthias filiferus, shown above, was trawled up from 150m in the Arabian Sea making it the first record of this species from Indian waters. It is just the second specimen known to man and matches well to the holotype Randall and Heemstra re-described in ‘07. A span of Thailand to India, is an impressive range for a fish we know so little about. Despite a size of 8″, the markings of M. filiferus could make it a desireable aquarium specimen.
Never say never, but I don’t expect these to become aquarium specimens. Their rarity, large size and the extreme depths make them an unlikely choice for collection. It does makes you wonder what odd ball fish are out there waiting to be discovered. For more information on Meganthias, including M. filiferus, see the sources below.
Sources:
Anderson, W.D., 2006. Meganthias carpenteri, new species of fish from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, with a key to eastern Atlantic Anthiinae (Perciformes: Serranidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington,119, 404–417.
Kon, T., Yoshino,T. & Sakurai, Y., 2000. A new anthiine fish (Perciformes; Serranidae), Holanthias kingyo, from the Ryukyu Islands. Ichthyological Research, 47, 75–79.
Randall, J.E & Heemstra, P.C., 2007. Meganthias filiferus, a new species of anthiine fish (Perciformes; Serranidae) from the Andaman sea off South Western Thailand. Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin, 68, 5–9.
Photos – Creative Commons:
