ROV Deep Discoverer filmed this Diplacanthopoma species between (1,096 and 1,380 meters (3,596 and 4,528 feet) on Bank 9, about 50 nautical miles south of Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The two-part lateral-line (white dots on the body), the absence of scales on the head, and the flap above the gill cover are characteristics of the genus. Though this individual had the color of the specimen that Gosline identified as Diplacanthopoma riversandersoni, that identification will need to be reevaluated if Hawaiian specimens of Diplacanthopoma are collected. Ichthyologists need to review and determine the number of species in the genus, as well as their geographic distributions, before we can get accurate identifications.
Diplacanthopoma
Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana. Download larger version (jpg, 1.6 MB).

ROV Deep Discoverer filmed this Diplacanthopoma species between (1,096 and 1,380 meters (3,596 and 4,528 feet) on Bank 9, about 50 nautical miles south of Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The two-part lateral-line (white dots on the body), the absence of scales on the head, and the flap above the gill cover are characteristics of the genus. Though this individual had the color of the specimen that Gosline identified as Diplacanthopoma riversandersoni, that identification will need to be reevaluated if Hawaiian specimens of Diplacanthopoma are collected. Ichthyologists need to review and determine the number of species in the genus, as well as their geographic distributions, before we can get accurate identifications.

Learn more