Gigantactis Brauer, 1902

Mincarone, Michael Maia, Afonso, Gabriel Vinícius Felix, Di Dario, Fabio, Eduardo, Leandro Nolé, Frédou, Thierry, Lucena-Frédou, Flávia, Bertrand, Arnaud & Pietsch, Theodore Wells, 2021, Deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) from off northeastern Brazil, with remarks on the ceratioids reported from the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, Neotropical Ichthyology 19 (2), pp. 1-28 : 19

Gigantactis Brauer, 1902

Diagnosis. Metamorphosed females of Gigantactis are distinguished from those of Rhynchactis , the other genus of the family, by the absence of pelvic bones and by having 5–9 dorsal-fin rays (rarely 4–10) and 4–7 anal-fin rays (rarely 8) (vs. 3–4 dorsal-fin rays, rarely 5, and 3–4 anal-fin rays). They further differ from those of Rhynchactis by the following characters: frontal and parietal bones present (vs. absent), premaxilla well developed, with teeth present throughout their length (vs. premaxilla represented by a remnant bearing 0–2 teeth), maxilla reduced to threadlike remnants (vs. maxillae absent), dentary with several rows of strong recurved teeth (vs. dentary toothless or with only minute teeth), a single hypohyal (vs. two hypohyals), all caudal-fin rays unbranched (vs. 9 caudal-fins rays, 2 simple + 4 branched + 3 simple), skin spinulose (vs. skin covered with minute spinules in larger specimens, but juveniles naked), snout produced in front of mouth, illicium originating at its tip (vs. snout truncated, illicium origin slightly behind its tip), and esca consisting of an expanded luminous bulb (vs. absence of bulbous, terminal, escal light organs) (Bertelsen et al., 1981; Pietsch, 2009).