''Sladenia zhui'', Chu's rounded angler, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lophiidae, the goosefishes, monkfishes and anglers. This species is found in the western Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Sladenia zhui'' was first formally described in 1976 by the Chinese ichthyologists

Ni Yong NI or Ni may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ni, or Nishada, the seventh note of the Indian musical scale in raga * ''New Internationalist'', a magazine * Knights Who Say "Ni!", characters from the film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' Bu ...

, Wu Han-Ling and Li Sheng with its type locality given as Western North Pacific Ocean. The genus '' Sladenia'' is one of 4 extant genera in the family Lophiidae which the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' classifies in the monotypic

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Lophioidei within the order Lophiiformes.

Etymology

''Sladenia gardineri'' has the genus name ''Sladenia'' which honours

Percy Sladen Walter Percy Sladen (30 June 1849 – 11 June 1900) was an English biologist who specialised in starfish. The son of a wealthy leather merchant, Sladen was born near Halifax, Yorkshire on 30 June 1849. He was educated at Hipperholme Grammar Sc ...

, the British echinoderm biologist. The holotype of ''S. gardineri'' was collected during an expedition funded by his memorial trust. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''zhui'' honours Zhu Yuan-Ding, a former president of the

Shanghai Ocean University Shanghai Ocean University () is a public university in Shanghai, China. The university changed its name to the current name on 6 May 2008, authorized by the Ministry of Education The People's Republic of China, and the whole school was to b ...

and director of the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, for his important contributions to education about fisheries and science, particularly the ichthyological knowledge of China.

Description

''Sladenis zhui'' has a rounded head and a compressed body, there is a distinct hump on the nape. The spines on the head are small and rounded. It has 4 dorsal spines in the first dorsal fin, 2 on the head and 2 connected too the second dorsal fin. There are many pointed cirri on the skin, arranged in patches or wavy lines on the head, lower jaw and caudal peduncle. The

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

has 6 or 7 soft rays. The overall colour of this fish is plain brown. The maximum published total length of .

Distribution and habitat

''Sladenia zhui'' has been recorded from two locations in the Western Pacific Ocean, one in the South China Sea and one in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

. In addition, 2 unidentified specimens taken in the eastern Indian Ocean off Java are probably Chu's anglerfishes. They have been collected from depths between on deep rocky and coral reefs on the continental slope.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14360408 zhui Fish described in 2012