Comic: bringing a smile to your face

Humphead Glassfish
Parambassis pulcinella Kottelat, 2003

The Humphead Glassfish looks strange in every respect. Glassfishes get their name from the general tendency to have translucent bodies. This species was first described in 2003 from Ataran River and its river system in south-eastern Myanmar and western Thailand. It has become a popular aquarium fish and is harvested for the trade.

The hump from which it gets its common name is actually an expanded part of the bone above the eye, as the x-ray shows. It is not found outside of ASEAN. Within ASEAN, it is found only in the Ataran River system of Myanmar and Thailand.

Like other anglerfishes, this group also has a modified fin ray which it can use to lure fish.

In the Longnose Seabat, this lure is not luminescent but rather secretes a fluid that scientists believe acts as the lure.

Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey
Rhinopithecus avunculus (Dollman, 1912)

Put a globular head of white fur, a pair of grouchy eyes smeared by sky-blue eye shadow, an upturned nose where only nostrils can be seen, top it with exaggerated baby-pink lips...

... and you will get a Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey!

Despite its appearance, the Goosefish is not to be messed with. Like other anglerfish, it has a lure to draw prey close enough to its huge mouth so that it can gobble them up.

The lure is called an “esca” and is an organ at the end of a modified dorsal fin ray (called the “illicium”). In some species, the esca is bioluminescent. The Goosefish has been found in various localities in the Western Pacific. Within ASEAN, it is known from Indonesia and the Philippines.