The Occurrence of the Atlantic Big-Eyed Rhinofish Poromitra megalops (Lutken, 1877) (Melamphaidae) in the Southeastern Partof the Atlantic Ocean

摘要

Genus Poromitra includes 22 species (Kotlyar, 2010). Three of them are large-eyed species characterized by extremely large eyes (24.2—39.4% of head length): P. megalops (Liitken, 1877), P. mac-rophthalma (Gilchrist, 1903), and P. jucunda (Kotlyar, 2010). Melamphaes megalops was the first species described as belonging to this group. A specimen from the stomach of the dolphinfish (Coryphaena) obtained in the Atlantic to the south of the Azores (Liitken, 1877) is considered the holotype for this species. In 1903, another large-eyed species, Plectromus mac-rophthalmus, caught near the southern extremity of the African continent (Gilchrist, 1903), was described. Currently, location of this holotype is unknown (Eschmeyer, 1998). Norman (1929), after hispreliminary revision of the genus Melamphaes, reduced Plectromus macrophthalmus to the synonymy of Melamphaes megalops. He suggested that the southern and northern Atlantic and the Indian Ocean are the habitats of M. megalops.