Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes, sea wolves or wolf eels, is a family of marine

ray finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

es belonging to the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species, with over 1,320. They are ...

. These are predatory, eel shaped fishes which are native to the cold waters of the Arctic, North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans.

Taxonomy

Anarhichadidae was first proposed as a family in 1832 by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' classifies this family within the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Zoarcoidei Zoarcoidei is a suborder of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. The suborder includes the wolffishes, gunnels and eelpouts. The suborder includes about 400 species. These fishes predominantly found in the boreal se ...

, within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities classify this family in the

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Zoarcales wihin the suborder Cottoidei of the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

Etymology

Anarhichadidae is derived from the name of its

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

''Anarhichas'' which is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

name for the Atlantic wolffish (''A. lupus'') and means "the climber", in turn derived from the Greek ''anarrhichesis'' which means "to climb or scramble up". This may be an allusion to the ancient belief that wolffishes left the water and climbed up on the rocks.

Genera and species

Anarhichadidae contains two genera and five species: * Genus ''

Anarhichas ''Anarhichas'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes or sea wolves. These fishes are found in the northern North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Anarhichas'' was first propos ...

'' Linnaeus, 1758 ** Northern wolffish, ''

Anarhichas denticulatus ''Anarhichas'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes or sea wolves. These fishes are found in the northern North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Anarhichas'' was first propos ...

'' Krøyer, 1845. ** Atlantic wolffish or sea wolf, ''

Anarhichas lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Commo ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

. ** Spotted wolffish, ''

Anarhichas minor ''Anarhichas minor'', the spotted wolffish, spotted sea cat or leopardfish, is a large marine fish of the family Anarhichadidae. This bottom-dwelling species is found across the North Atlantic and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean from north of ...

'' Olafsen, 1772. ** Bering wolffish, ''

Anarhichas orientalis ''Anarhichas orientalis'', the Bering wolffish, is a marine fish in the family Anarhichadidae, the "wolffish". Description The Bering wolffish has an elongate and laterally compressed body, with a thin caudal peduncle. It has a steep snout, and, ...

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pall ...

, 1814. * Genus ''

Anarrhichthys The wolf eel (''Anarrhichthys ocellatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolf fishes. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean. Despite its common name and resemblance, it is not a true eel. It ...

'' Ayres, 1855 ** Wolf eel, ''

Anarrhichthys ocellatus The wolf eel (''Anarrhichthys ocellatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolf fishes. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean. Despite its common name and resemblance, it is not a true eel. It ...

'' Ayres, 1855.

Timeline of genera

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

Pleist. The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:pliocene bar:NAM1 from: -5.332 till: 0 text:

color:pleistocene bar:NAM2 from: -2.588 till: 0 text:

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Characteristics

Anarhichadidae wolfishes have a largely compressed and, in the genus ''Anarhichas'', a moderately elongate body. ''Anarrhichthys'' has an extremely elongate body and this has given rise to its common name of wolf-eel. The long

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

starts at the head and has many flexible spines and soft rays. The

anal 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 se ...

may have a single spine in ''Anarrhichthys'', and again there is a large number of soft rays. The

caudal 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 se ...

is separate from the other median fins in ''Anarhichas'' but they are all three joined in ''Anarrhichthys''. There is a single pair of nostrils. The scales, if present, are cycloid, tiny and do not overlap. There are well developed. movement sensitive sensory canals on the head and as the fish ages the pores grow vey large. There are 1 or 2

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

s made up of superficial

neuromast The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

s. There are robust conical teeth in the front of the jaws and large molar like teeth to the rear of those. The gill membranes are joined to the isthmus and the gill openings are set widely apart. There is no

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...

. The counts of vertebrae are 72–89 in ''Anarhichas'' and 221–251 in ''Anarrhichthys''. The longest published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

is for ''Anarrhichthys ocellatus'' and is .

Distribution and habitat

Anarhichadidae wolfishes prefer cooler waters and are found in the northern parts of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans as well as in the Arctic Ocean. They are

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

es occurring in shallow to moderately deep and cold seas.

Biology

Anarhichadidae wolffishes use their large teeth to feed on a diet of shelled invertebrates such as crabs, starfishes and sea urchins, as well as other prey, The peak mating season for wolffish is September to October. The male wolffish will guard the eggs 3–9 months until they hatch.

Fisheries

Anarhichadidae wolffishes, in particular two Atlantic species, the spotted wolffish and the Atlantic wolffish, are targeted by commercial fisheries. The flesh is used for food and the skin to make leather.

References

* * *“The Wolffishes (Family : Anarhichadidae).” ''Finfish Aquaculture Diversification'', by R. Le François Nathalie, CABI, 2010, pp. 417–418. {{Taxonbar, from=Q604663 Zoarcoidei Articles which contain graphical timelines Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Ray-finned fish families