Genus: Chaunacops, Coffinfishes, Northwest Gaper

CHAUNACOPS

COFFINFISHES

Body rounded, slightly compressed, tapering to a small, rounded tail; head large, globular, cuboid; eyes high on side of head, covered with a clear skin window; mouth large, strongly oblique to ~vertical; teeth small, slender, sharp; gill opening small; dorsal fin in 2 parts: 1st is a single spine modified as a relatively long (7.1-10.1% SL) angling lure in a scaleless, oval depression on snout, lure is a dense cluster of short threads like a short mop,2nd & 3rd spines not externally visible; soft dorsal on rear of body, 10-12; anal fin 0, 6 (5-6); pectorals behind mid-body, 10-15; skin very loose, flaccid, covered with minute spine-like denticles, those coarse and widely spaced; single open lateral line from head to mid-body, with prominent canals and relatively few pores, with connections to branches under eye, to chin, and to a second line along lower side of body, main part on upper body ends over pectoral fin, with 17-21 pores, continues with 9 pores on head.

A worldwide, tropical to temperate genus with 4 species; one on either side of the Central American Isthmus.