Bufoceratias shaoi Pietsch, Ho & Chen, 2004

Figs. 6 C, 8

Bufoceratias shaoi Pietsch, Ho & Chen, 2004:100, figs. 1, 3A (type locality: northeastern Taiwan). Pietsch, 2009:358.

Materials. HUMZ 193746 (1, 68.2), st. 29., 8°31.3'S, 110°25.0'E – 8°30.8'S, 110°23.6'E, off Java, 755–770 m, 13 May 2005. HUMZ 193895 (1, 44.8), HUMZ 193896 (1, 52.5), HUMZ 193897 (1, 46.1), HUMZ 193898 (1, 33.5), st. 22, 8°18.8'S, 110°13.1'E – 8°18.2'S, 109°11.3'E, off Java, 530–582 m, 11 May 2005.

Description. Dorsal-fin rays 6–7; pectoral-fin rays 13–14 (mode 14); anal-fin rays 4; caudal-fin rays 9. Teeth on vomer 6–10 (3–5 on each side); upper jaw teeth 25–45; lower jaw teeth 23–35. Head length 41.8–53.4% SL; head depth 48.7–60.3; head width 30.1–41.7; frontal width 14.0–17.0; illicial length 24.8–36.7; distance between upper jaw symphysis and origin of illicium 33.1–50.6; upper jaw length 38.0–49.9; lower jaw length 41.5–50.5.

Body short, globular, rounded to oval profile in lateral view. Mouth large, oblique. Illicium emerging from dorsal surface of head behind sphenotic spines. illicium relatively short. Esca small, its total length 33.9–54.8% SL and its width 4.0–5.3% SL; extremely elongate, unpigmented terminal papilla, its length 29.2–39.7% SL and width 2.0–4.5% SL, cylindrical and gradually tapering to a terminal cirrus; escal pore situated at postero-basal margin of terminal papilla; anterior escal appendage, 18.8–28.4% SL, single main branch or divided into two branches, each subdivided into several secondary branches and bearing numerous slender filaments; a pair of lateral escal appendages, 27.2–36.7% SL, each divided into four or five branches, each branch bearing numerous long, slender filaments; posterior appendage absent. Slender fang-like teeth on both jaws, longest teeth on upper jaw 5.3–7.8% SL; longest teeth on lower jaw 6.2–9.2% SL.

Body brownish to blackish; fin rays pale grayish to black; escal appendages variously pigmented, from colorless to slightly pigmented or uniformly transparent.

Remarks. All five Indonesian specimens have nearly identical morphological characters, except for the terminal papillae that are much longer than those of type series and more dorsal-fin rays (6 or 7 vs. all with 5 rays, except for one paratype with 6). The escal morphology varies slightly: the 44.8 mm specimen has a main branch and one additional small branch on each side; the 33.5 mm specimen has a single main branch.

The lack of an escal posterior appendage in all specimens also distinguishes it from all congeners but B. thele, which lacks all escal appendages.