Bathylutichthys balushkini Voskoboinikova, 2014
Balushkin’s bathylutichthys

Family:  Psychrolutidae (Fatheads)
Max. size:  10.62 cm SL (male/unsexed); 11 cm SL (female)
Environment:  bathydemersal; marine; depth range 960 - 1100 m
Distribution:  Southern Atlantic: Meteor Shoal.
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 9-10; Dorsal soft rays (total): 29-33; Anal soft rays: 34-38. This species is characterized by the following: large head broad and slightly longer than 1/3 SL, as wide as long; upper profile of head straight; mouth position upper, posterior margin of upper jaw reaching slightly short of anterior margin of eye; lips clearly pronounced; the eye is smaller than orbit, covered with thin transparent skin; interorbital distance great; 2 pairs of nostrils, with anterior pair tubular; teeth on jaw sharply conical, arranged in 3 rows near symphysis; front teeth very small, inner teeth arranged in 2 rows, larger, bent backward; barbels on posterior end of lower jaw very long, of moderate thickness, coiled in small balls apically, reaching beyond margin of operculum when stretched backwards and straightened; large branchial openning; gill rakers present on ceratobranchial only, clubbed and bearing several very small bony spinules apically; gill lamellae short, pale over entire length of gill arches; pharyngeal teeth very small, forming oval platforms on haryngobranchial 3 and ceratobranchial 5 (Ref. 116656).
Biology: 
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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