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

华盛顿大学的西奥多·W·皮奇博士获得了一项资助，用于开展世界深海鳗鱼的研究。深海鳗鱼是由157个物种组成的形态多样化的群体，是所有动物中最耐人寻味的物种之一，展示了许多其他地方找不到的壮观的形态、行为和生理创新。它们与浅水近亲分享一种独特的进食模式，即第一根背鳍刺伸出鼻子尖端，被改造成诱饵装置，但它们在用共生发光细菌产生的光吸引猎物方面有所不同。与之形成鲜明对比的是，它们采用了一种独特的繁殖模式，雄性相形见绌，并依附于相对巨大的雌性。依附之后是组织的融合和循环系统的连接，因此雄性变得永久依赖雌性的血液运输营养，而雌性成为一种自我受精的两性人。尽管这些和其他独特的方面引起了极大的生物学兴趣，但脊椎动物仍然鲜为人知。这里提出的工作将汇集世界各地自然历史收藏中这些动物的所有已知标本，并汇编关于它们生物学的全面综合知识，通过硬拷贝出版物以及互联网上的电子演示向科学界和普通界宣传这些信息。这项工作对于发现和理解从生殖过程到深海轻型器官共生进化的新的生物现象具有巨大的潜力。与此同时，这些结果将为未来研究一系列与海洋生物学有关的有趣的进化问题奠定基础：它们的丰富性、高度的物种多样性以及在食物链中作为深海生态系统中最主要的食肉动物的地位，使它们具有重要的生态学意义；它们独特的繁殖模式对内分泌学和免疫学领域具有重要的生物医学意义。最后，在对本科生和研究生的科学教育和人力资源开发作出重大贡献的同时，广泛传播的成果将增进学生、科学家和普通公众对科学技术的了解。

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.