Monkfish (family)

monkfish
Lophius piscatorius
Systematics
Acanthomorphata Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Order : Armfinch (Lophiiformes) Subordination : Lophioidei Family : monkfish
Scientific name of the  subordination
Lophioidei
Rafinesque , 1810
Scientific name of the  family
Lophiidae
Rafinesque , 1810

The anglerfish (Lophiidae) are a family of bottom-dwelling predatory fish from the order of the armfinches (Lophiiformes). They live in the Atlantic , Mediterranean , Arctic , Pacific and Indian Oceans .

features

Skeleton of Lophius americanus , in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Monkfish have an extremely large, broad, and flattened head with a huge mouth with powerful teeth. The lower jaw and the sides of the head and body are lined with skin tags. The first ray of the dorsal fin sits directly over the mouth and is transformed into a fishing rod ( Illicium ) with a dummy bait ( Esca ). The pectoral fins have 13 to 28 fin rays. The second dorsal fin has 8 to 12 soft rays, the anal fin 6 to 10. The gill opening is a round hole located just behind the pectoral fin attachment. Monkfish have 18 to 19 vertebrae, but the genus Lophius has 26 to 31. The different species are 7.5 centimeters to 1.20 meters long. The largest is the European species Lophius piscatorius with lengths of up to 1.80 meters. The top of the monkfish is dark in color, the underside white.

nutrition

Anglerfish are lazy hunters who wait for prey on sandy or silty bottoms. When a potential victim approaches, the fishing rod (Illicium) is moved with a dummy bait (Esca). Prey animals are sucked in with the water flow by suddenly opening their mouths. Large species also handle larger, defensive prey such as eels , gurnards , rays and even diving seabirds.

Systematics

There are 28 species in four genera:

Lophiodes reticulatus

Lophiomus setigerus

Lophius gastrophysus

Sladenia shaefersi

• Lophiodes
  • Lophiodes beroe Caruso , 1981 .
  • Lophiodes bruchius Caruso, 1981 .
  • Lophiodes caulinaris ( Garman , 1899) .
  • Lophiodes fimbriatus Saruwatari & Mochizuki, 1985 .
  • Lophiodes gracilimanus ( Alcock , 1899) .
  • Lophiodes insidiator ( Regan , 1921) .
  • Lophiodes iwamotoi Ho, Séret & Shao, 2011 .
  • Lophiodes kempi (Norman, 1935) .
  • Lophiodes maculatus Ho, Séret & Shao, 2011 .
  • Lophiodes miacanthus (Gilbert, 1905) .
  • Lophiodes monodi (Le Danois, 1971) .
  • Lophiodes mutilus (Alcock, 1894) .
  • Lophiodes naresi ( Günther , 1880) .
  • Lophiodes reticulatus Caruso & Suttkus, 1979 .
  • Lophiodes spilurus (Garman, 1899) .
  • Lophiodes triradiatus (Lloyd, 1909) ( synonyms : Lophiodes infrabrunneus Smith & Radcliffe, 1912 and Lophiodes abdituspinus Ni, Wu & Li, 1990 ).
• Lophiomus
  • Lophiomus setigerus (Vahl, 1797) .
• Lophius
  • American monkfish ( Lophius americanus ) Valenciennes , 1837 .
  • Lophius budegassa Spinola , 1807 .
  • Lophius gastrophysus Miranda-Ribeiro, 1915 .
  • Lophius litulon ( Jordan , 1902) .
  • Anglerfish ( Lophius piscatorius ) Linnaeus , 1758 .
  • Lophius vaillanti Regan, 1903 .
  • Lophius vomerinus Valenciennes, 1837 .
• Sladenia
  • Sladenia gardineri Regan, 1908 .
  • Sladenia remiger Smith & Radcliffe, 1912 .
  • Sladenia shaefersi Caruso & Bullis, 1976 .
  • Sladenia zhui Ni, Wu & Li, 2012 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hsuan-Ching Ho, KK Bineesh & KV Akhilesh: Rediscovery of Lophiodes triradiatus (Lloyd, 1909), a senior synonym of L. infrabrunneus Smith and Radcliffe (Lophiiformes: Lophiidae) . Zootaxa, 3786, 5, pp. 587-592, 2014

literature

• Kurt Fiedler: Textbook of Special Zoology, Volume II, Part 2: Fish. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1991, ISBN 3-334-00339-6
• Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7

Web links

Commons : Lophiidae  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Monkfish (family) on Fishbase.org (English)
• John H. Caruso: Lophiidae The Tree of Life Web Project