Anglerfish
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Anglerfish
The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes (). 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 luminescence comes from symbiotic bacteria, which are thought to be acquired from seawater, that dwell in and around the sea. 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. In these species, males may be several orders of magnitude smaller than females. Anglerfish occur worldwide. Some are pelagic (dwelling away from the sea floor), while others are benthic (dwelling close to the sea floor). 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). Pelagic forms are most often laterally compressed, whereas the ...
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Humpback Anglerfish
The humpback anglerfish (''Melanocetus johnsonii'') is a species of black seadevils in the family of Melanocetidae, which means "black whale" in Greek.Froese, R., Pauly D., Eds. (2015) Melanocetus johnsonii. ''FishBase''. The species is named after James Yate Johnson, the English naturalist who discovered the first specimen in Madeira in 1863.Fitch, J.E., Lavenberg R.J. (1968). ''Deep-water teleostean fishes of California.'' University of California Press, 115. The common names include anglerfish, viperfish and fangtoothfish.Humpback Blackdevil, ''Melanocetus johnsonii'' Gunther, 1864.
Australian Museum.


Historical background

The first specimen of ''M. johnsonii'' was discovered by the English naturalist
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Teleost
Teleostei (; Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts ), is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, containing 96% of all extant species of fish. Teleosts are arranged into about 40 orders and 448 family (biology), families. Over 26,000 species have been described. Teleosts range from giant oarfish measuring or more, and ocean sunfish weighing over , to the minute male anglerfish ''Photocorynus spiniceps'', just long. Including not only torpedo-shaped fish built for speed, teleosts can be flattened vertically or horizontally, be elongated cylinders or take specialised shapes as in anglerfish and seahorses. The difference between teleosts and other bony fish lies mainly in their jaw bones; teleosts have a movable premaxilla and corresponding modifications in the jaw musculature which make it possible for them to cranial kinesis, protrude their jaws outwards from the mouth. This is of ...
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Fish Fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as seen in sharks. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the spine and are supported only by muscles. Their principal function is to help the fish swim. Fins located in different places on the fish serve different purposes such as moving forward, turning, keeping an upright position or stopping. Most fish use fins when swimming, flying fish use pectoral fins for gliding, and frogfish use them for crawling. Fins can also be used for other purposes; male sharks and mosquitofish use a modified fin to deliver sperm, thresher sharks use their caudal fin to stun prey, reef stonefish have spines in their dorsal fins that inject venom, anglerfish use the first spine of their dorsal fin like a fishing rod to lur ...
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Ceratiidae
Sea devils are the family of deep-sea anglerfish known as the Ceratiidae, from the Greek ''keras'', "horn", referring to the bioluminescent lure that projects from the fishes' forehead. They are among the most widespread of the anglerfishes, found in all oceans from the tropics to the Antarctic. They are large and elongated: females of the largest species, Krøyer's deep sea angler fish, ''Ceratias holboelli'', reach in length. Males, by contrast, are much smaller, reaching , and, like other anglerfishes, spend much of their lives attached to a female after a free-living adolescent stage in which they are very small – at most – and have sharp, beak-like, toothless jaws. One or more males attach themselves permanently to a female, eventually merging circulatory systems. As this genetic chimera matures, the male grows large testicles, while the rest of its body atrophies. Ceratiidae are the only creatures known to become chimeras as a normal part of their lifecycle Life ...
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Boschma's Frogfish
''Lophichthys boschmai'', also known as Arafura frogfish or Boschma's frogfish, is a species of anglerfishes closely related to frogfish. ''L. boschmai'' is the only species in the Lophichthydae family. ''L. boschmai'' were first reported by Marinus Boseman in 1964 to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, now known as National Museum of Natural History in Leiden. The species was named after Dutch zoologist, Hildbrand Boschma.Boeseman, Marinus (1964)"Notes on the fishes of western New Guinea : II. ''Lophichthys boschmai'', a new genus and species from the Arafoera Sea" ''Zoologische Mededelingen''. 39 (2): 12–18. ISSNbr>0024-0672– via Naturalis. Like the true frogfishes, it is a small fish, no more than in length, with loose skin and a lure (esca) for attracting prey. The pectoral fins are prehensile, helping the fish move along the sea bed. Unlike true frogfishes, however, it does not have an enlarged and globose head. It lives in shallow waters off the coast of New G ...
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Sexual Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, colour, markings, or behavioural or cognitive traits. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', which is when both biological sexes are phenotypically indistinguishable from each other. Overview Ornamentation and coloration Common and easily identified types of dimorphism consist of ornamentation and coloration, though not always apparent. A difference in coloration of sexes within a given species is called sexual dichromatism, which is commonly seen in many species of birds and reptiles. Sexual selection leads to the exaggerated dim ...
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Aggressive Mimicry
Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compared this strategy to a wolf in sheep's clothing. In its broadest sense, aggressive mimicry could include various types of exploitation, as when an orchid exploits a male insect by mimicking a sexually receptive female (see pseudocopulation), but will here be restricted to forms of exploitation involving feeding. An alternative term Peckhamian mimicry (after George and Elizabeth Peckham) has been suggested, but is seldom used. For example, indigenous Australians who dress up as and imitate kangaroos when hunting would not be considered aggressive mimics, nor would a human angler, though they are undoubtedly practising self-decoration camouflage. Treated separately is molecular mimicry, which shares some similarity; for instance a virus may mimic ...
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Tetrabrachiidae
Tetrabrachiidae, or the four-armed frogfishes, is a family of anglerfishes found in relatively shallow waters of the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean reaching from Indonesia and New Guinea to Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma .... They prefer living in regions of the ocean floor composed of soft sediments. References * Lophiiformes Marine fish families {{Lophiiformes-stub ...
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Pelagic Zone
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the surface of the sea and the bottom. Conditions in the water column change with depth: pressure increases; temperature and light decrease; salinity, oxygen, micronutrients (such as iron, magnesium and calcium) all change. Marine life is affected by bathymetry (underwater topography) such as the seafloor, shoreline, or a submarine seamount, as well as by proximity to the boundary between the ocean and the atmosphere at the ocean surface, which brings light for photosynthesis, predation from above, and wind stirring up waves and setting currents in motion. The pelagic zone refers to the open, free waters away from the shore, where marine life can swim freely in any direction unhindered by topographical constraints. Th ...
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Four-armed Frogfish
''Tetrabrachium ocellatum'' (four-armed frogfish) is a species of anglerfish, closely related to the true frogfishes. It is the only member of its genus. Like the true frogfishes, it is a small fish, no more than in length, with a flattened body and loose skin. It has prehensile pectoral fins, helping it to move along the seabed, and giving it its "four-armed" appearance. It lives in shallow waters, around depth, off the coasts of New Guinea, Indonesia, and Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma .... References Lophiiformes Monotypic marine fish genera Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Lophiiformes-stub ...
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Predation
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often concealed. When prey is detected, the predator assesses whether to attack it. This may involve ambush or pursuit predation, sometimes after stalking the prey. If the attack is successful, the predator kills the prey, removes any inedible parts like the shell or spines, and eats it. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as vision, hearing, or smell. Many predatory animals, both vertebrate and inv ...
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Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with around 99% of those being teleosts. The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts. Fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators. The first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many (such as sharks) became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Mos ...
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