![]() ![]() The organ has been hypothesized to serve the purpose of luring prey in dark, deep-sea environments, but also serves to call males' attention to the females to facilitate mating. Most adult female ceratioid anglerfish have a luminescent organ called the esca at the tip of a modified dorsal ray (the illicium or fishing rod derived from Latin ēsca, "bait"). Further, the long and thin inclinator of the deep sea ceratioid anglerfish allows for a distinctly wide range of anterior and posterior motion, assisting in the movement of the luring apparatus to aid in the ambush of prey. The robust retractor and protractor muscles move in a winding pattern in opposite directions along the length of the pterygiophore, which exists in a deep longitudinal ridge along the skull. Specifically considering Ctyptopsaras couesii, this deep sea ceratioid anglerfish has unique rotational biomechanics in its musculature. The illicium is moved back and forth by five distinct pairs of muscles: namely the shorter erector and depressor muscles that dictate movement of the illicial bone, along with inclinator, protractor, and retractor muscles that aid motion of the pterygiophore. Īngler fish have a flap, or the illicium, towards the distal end of their body on their first of two dorsal fins which extends to the snout and acts as a luring mechanism where prey will approach in a face-to-face manner. Frogfish and other shallow-water anglerfish species are ambush predators, and often appear camouflaged as rocks, sponges or seaweed. Their length can vary from 2–18 cm (1–7 in), with a few types getting as large as 100 cm (39 in), but this variation is largely due to sexual dimorphism, with females being much larger than males. Ranging in color from dark gray to dark brown, deep-sea species have large heads that bear enormous, crescent-shaped mouths full of long, fang-like teeth angled inward for efficient prey grabbing. ![]() For the grapevine disease, see Esca (grape disease).Īll anglerfish are carnivorous and are thus adapted for the capture of prey. Thaumatichthyidae (wolf-trap seadevils).Tetrabrachiidae (four-armed frogfishes).The following taxa have been arranged to show their evolutionary relationships. Classification įishBase, Nelson, and Pietsch list 18 families, but ITIS lists only 16. Evolution Ī mitochondrial genome phylogenetic study suggested the anglerfishes diversified in a short period of the early to mid- Cretaceous, between 130 and 100 million years ago. Pelagic forms are most often laterally compressed, whereas the benthic forms are often extremely dorsoventrally compressed (depressed), often with large upward-pointing mouths. Some live in the deep sea (such as the Ceratiidae), while others on the continental shelf, such as the frogfishes and the Lophiidae (monkfish or goosefish). Some are pelagic (dwelling away from the sea floor), while others are benthic (dwelling close to the sea floor). In these species, males may be several orders of magnitude smaller than females. Some anglerfish are notable for extreme sexual dimorphism and sexual symbiosis of the small male with the much larger female, seen in the suborder Ceratioidei, the deep sea anglerfish. The luminescence comes from symbiotic bacteria, which are thought to be acquired from seawater, that dwell in and around the sea. They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure for other fish. The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes ( / ˌ l ɒ f i ɪ ˈ f ɔːr m iː z/). (J) Chaenophryne quasiramifera, 157 mm SL. (H) Lasiognathus amphirhamphus, 157 mm SL
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