REVSYS: Biodiversity of Deep-sea Anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of the World

西奥多W博士获得了一笔赠款。华盛顿大学的Pietsch教授对世界深海琵琶鱼进行研究。 深海琵琶鱼拥有157种形态多样的组合，是所有动物中最有趣的动物之一，展示了许多其他地方没有的壮观的形态，行为和生理创新。 它们与浅水亲戚分享一种独特的进食模式，其中第一背鳍刺，放在吻尖上，被修改为作为引诱装置，但它们不同的是用共生发光细菌产生的光吸引猎物。 与此形成鲜明对比的是，它们采用一种独特的繁殖方式，雄性矮小，并依附于相对巨大的雌性。 附着之后是组织的融合和循环系统的连接，这样男性就永远依赖女性的血液输送营养，而女性则成为一种自我再生的雌雄同体。 尽管有这些和其他独特的方面的巨大生物学兴趣，角状珊瑚仍然知之甚少。 这里提出的工作将汇集世界各地自然历史收藏中所有已知的这些动物标本，并汇编有关其生物学知识的完整综合，通过硬拷贝出版物以及互联网上的电子演示，使科学界和非专业界了解这些信息。 这项工作对于发现和了解从生殖过程到深海光器官共生的演变等新的生物现象具有巨大潜力。 与此同时，研究结果将为今后研究与海洋生物学有关的一系列有趣的进化问题奠定基础：它们的丰度、高度的物种多样性以及作为深海生态系统中顶级初级食肉动物在食物链中的地位使它们在生态学上具有重要意义;它们独特的繁殖方式对内分泌学和免疫学领域具有重大的生物医学意义。 最后，在对本科生和研究生一级的科学教育和人力资源开发作出重大贡献的同时，广泛传播的成果将提高学生、科学家和公众对科学和技术的理解。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Theodore W. Pietsch of the University of Washington to conduct studies of deep-sea anglerfishes of the world. A morphologically diverse assemblage of 157 species, deep-sea anglerfishes are among the most intriguing of all animals, displaying a host of spectacular morphological, behavioral, and physiological innovations found nowhere else. They share with shallow-water relatives a unique mode of feeding in which the first dorsal-fin spine, placed out on the tip of the snout, is modified to serve as a luring apparatus, but they differ in attracting prey with light produced by symbiotic luminescent bacteria. In further contrast, they employ a unique mode of reproduction in which males are dwarfed and attach themselves to relatively gigantic females. Attachment is followed by fusion of tissues and a connection of the circulatory systems so that the male becomes permanently dependent on the female for blood-transported nutrients, while the female becomes a kind of self-fertilizing hermaphrodite. Despite these and other unique aspects of great biological interest, ceratioids remain very poorly known. The work proposed here will bring together all known specimens of these animals in natural history collections around the world and compile a full synthesis of knowledge about their biology, making the information known to the scientific and lay community through hardcopy publication as well as by electronic presentation on the Internet. The work has great potential for the discovery and understanding of new biological phenomena ranging from reproductive processes to the evolution of deep-sea light-organ symbiosis. At the same time, the results will form a foundation for future examination of a host of intriguing evolutionary questions relative to oceanic biology in general: their abundance, high species diversity, and position in the food chain as top primary carnivores in deep-sea ecosystems make them important ecologically; and their unique mode of reproduction has significant biomedical implications to the fields of endocrinology and immunology. Finally, while contributing significantly to education and the development of human resources in science at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the results, broadly disseminated, will enhance scientific and technological understanding among students, scientists, and the general public.