Animal Species:Smooth Goosefish, Lophiodes mutilus (Alcock,
1893) The Smooth Goosefish has a huge depressed head and a jaws
lined with long, pointed, depressable teeth. It lives at depths
between 200 m and 800 m. The Smooth Goosefish has a huge
depressed head and a jaws lined with long, pointed, depressable
teeth. There are numerous sharp spines on the head and fleshy
tendrils on the lower jaw. The dorsal fin is made up of three
isolated spines on the head and one or two short spines behind
the head, which may be embedded beneath the skin. The first
dorsal spine may be modified as a lure, with a simple esca
distally. The species is light to dark brown above and lighter
brown below. The tendrils on the head are darker brown to black.
The peritoneum is black. It grows to about 40 cm in length. The
Smooth Goosefish occurs in tropical and temperate waters of the
Indo-west Pacific. In Australia it is known from off the
Northwest Shelf of Western Australia, northern Queensland to
southern New South Wales and off no