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Systematic review of the genus Bothrocara Bean 1890 (Teleostei: Zoarcidae)

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Abstract

The systematics of the eelpout genus Bothrocara Bean 1890 is reviewed on the basis of 941 specimens. Eight mostly eurybathic, demersal species are recognized, distributed mainly along the continental slopes of the North and South Pacific oceans, with one species entering the South Atlantic. Distributions are: B. brunneum ranges from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Gulf of Panama at depths of 199–1,829 m; B. elongatum ranges from the Gulf of Panama to Chile at depths of 720–1,866 m; B. hollandi ranges from the Sea of Japan to the southeastern Bering Sea at depths of 150–1,980 m; B. molle ranges from the western Bering Sea to the South Atlantic at depths of 106–2,688 m; B. nyx is known only from the eastern Bering Sea at depths of 790–1,508 m; B. pusillum ranges from the northern Bering Sea to British Columbia, Canada, at depths of 55–642 m; B. tanakae is found along the northern coasts of Honshu and Hokkaido islands, Japan, at depths of 274–892 m; B. zestum ranges from the Izu Islands, Japan, and central Honshu, Japan, to the Gulf of Alaska at depths of 199–1,620 m (an unidentifiable specimen from off Taiwan may be B. zestum). The species are distinguished from one another mainly on the basis of head pore patterns, gill raker morphology, coloration and various meristic and morphometric values. A determination key to the species is provided.

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Acknowledgments

MEA and GS express sincere thanks to Hisashi Imamura (Hokkaido University Museum) for his valuable help to complete this study. DS thanks Arkady Balushkin (Russian Academy of Sciences), Katherine Pearson (UW), Mary Anne Rogers (FMNH), Kelly Sendall (Royal British Columbia Museum), and Jeff Williams and Shirleen Smith (USNM) for access to specimens and radiographs, as well as James Orr and Jerry Hoff (U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service) for assistance collecting specimens from the Bering Sea. GS thanks Shigeaki Kojima (Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo), Shigeru M. Shirai (Japan Sea National Fisheries Research Institute), Daiji Kitagawa (Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute), Masaki Ito, Tsutomu Hattori, and Youji Narimatsu (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute), Akira Uno (Hamasaka Town), and Toshiaki Kuramochi and Yohko Takata (NSMT) for their support collecting fresh specimens of Japanese Bothrocara. This study was partly supported by a research project entitled “Deep-sea Fauna and Pollutants off Pacific Coast of Northern Japan” (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, 2005–2008).

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  1. South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    M. Eric Anderson

  2. RACE Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, F/AKC1, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98115, USA

    Duane E. Stevenson

  3. National Museum of Nature and Science, 3-23-1 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0073, Japan

    Gento Shinohara

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  1. M. Eric Anderson
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Anderson, M.E., Stevenson, D.E. & Shinohara, G. Systematic review of the genus Bothrocara Bean 1890 (Teleostei: Zoarcidae). Ichthyol Res 56, 172–194 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-008-0086-6

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