Dermatias platynogaster

Dermatias has 6 soft rays in its dorsal fin and 4 in its anal fin. The males and larvae of this species have not been collected and the species is only known from 4 female specimens. The metamorphosed females differ from other species of oneirodids in the unusually deep caudal peduncle, the blunt and short snout, the highly convex frontal bones which create a very short head and they have a smaller number of teeth in the jaws, between 20 and 32 in the upper jaw, 20 to 31 in the lower jaw. They also have vomerine teeth, large sphenotic spines which are directed outwards and upwards, a robust spine on the symphysis of the lower jaw, the hyomandibular has a double head, there is a large spine on the quadrate bone and an articular spine which is shorter than half the length of the spine on the quadrate. They also have a deeply incised rear margin of the operculum. there is a long, thin subopercle which has its dorsal end tapering to a point and an oval ventral end. There is no internal pigmentation on the fin rays of the caudal fin. The illicium is markedly longer than the length of bulb of the esca and its pterygiophore emerges on the snout between the frontal bones with its front end exposed and its rear end hidden beneath the skin. …

Dermatias has been recorded from three widely scattered localities in the Western Pacific Ocean. Apart from the type locality it has been recorded from the Townsville trough off northeastern Australia and the Magellan Seamounts. The specimens have been collected from depths between 539 and 1,342 m (1,768 and 4,403 ft).

== References ==

Dermatias means "one who has skin", an allusion to the kine being "naked, very loose, and soft". The specific name platynogaster combines platyno, which means "to widen", with gaster, meaning "stomach", thought to be a reference to the "ventral surface greatly decurved, the very large stomach hanging down like a great pouch".