biology

Gigantactis meadi

Gigantactis meadi is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gigantactis meadi rather than just read about it. In short: Gigantactis meadi, Mead's whipnose, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Gigantactinidae, the whipnose anglers. This species is found in the deeper waters of the southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Key takeaways

Gigantactis meadi belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gigantactis meadi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gigantactis meadi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gigantactis meadi, Mead's whipnose, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Gigantactinidae, the whipnose anglers. This species is found in the deeper waters of the southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy Gigantactis meadi was first formally described in 1981 by Erik Bertelsen, Theodore W. Pietsch and Robert J. Lavenberg with its type locality given as the southwestern Indian Ocean at 34°14'S, 64°56'E, or 33°53'S, 64°55'E, Anton Bruun station 352A, from a depth of 0–350 m (0–1,148 ft). This species is placed within the genus Gigantactis, which the 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies within the family Gigantactinidae, a family within the suborder Ceratioidei, the deep sea anglerfishes of the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.

Etymology Gigantactis meadi is a member of the genus Giganactis, the name of which is a combination of gigantos, meaning "giant", with actis, which means "ray", an allusion to the unusually long illicium of the genus's type species, G. vanhoeffeni. The specific name honours Giles W. Mead, a biology professor at Harvard University, deep sea explorer and ichthyologist, for being chief scientist the expedition it was collected on and for his overall contributions to ichthyology.

Description Gigantactis meadi is a plain black whipnose angler that has a comparatively short illicium with a tuft of white filaments at its base and short filaments along the length of the rear of the illicium. There is a rear elongation of the esca, which is twice its width and constricted at its base. The lower jaw has 5 or 6 rows of long teeth. This species has a maximum published standard length of 28.5 cm (11.2 in).

Distribution and habitat Gigantactis meadi has a circumglobal distribution in the southern hemisphere between 30 and 53°S. It has been found at depths between 1,250 and 2,000 m (4,100 and 6,560 ft).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gigantactis meadi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gigantactis meadi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gigantactis meadi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gigantactis meadi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gigantactis meadi

In research: Gigantactis meadi appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gigantactis meadi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gigantactis meadi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bioluminescent fish, Deep sea fish, Fish described in 1981, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gigantactis meadi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gigantactis meadi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gigantactis meadi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gigantactis meadi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gigantactis meadi in simple terms?

Why does Gigantactis meadi matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gigantactis meadi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gigantactis meadi.