Grammatonotus macropthalmusis a very rare fish which is not a shallow water fish, not a deep water fish but anabyssalreef fish. Like members ofCallanthias,Grammatonotus不是一个anthias而是属于家庭吗Callanthiidae, even though both genera have copious amounts of yellow and pink coloring like the familiar spotfins and pink squares. This specimen ofGrammatonotuswas spotted via deep sea submersible while a deep sea submarine was surveying the effects of red coral harvesting in Hawaii, at 350 to 500metersdeep – that’s about a quartermilebelow sea level.
Since specimens ofGrammatonotusare extremely rare to see or in ichthyological museum collections, the exact identification ofGrammatonotusspecies is hazy at best. AlthoughGrammatonotusdo occur in shallower cool water seas they are very rarely seen, so you can kiss your hopes of ever having this fish goodbye. Best to jsut appreciate the cool marine fish species that we’ve yet to learn about. Big thanks to Drs. Frank Parrish and Bruce Mundy for all of their help regarding this sighting and theGrammatonotusgenus.
