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Lophiiform

Anglerfish
Temporal range: 130–0 Ma
Early Cretaceous – recent
Humpback anglerfish.png
Humpback anglerfish, Melanocetus johnsonii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Superorder: Paracanthopterygii or Acanthopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Garman, 1899
Synonyms

Pediculati

External video
Angler Fish – YouTube
Weird Killer of the Deep – YouTube
The anglerfish: The original approach to deep-sea fishing – YouTube
3D scans reveal deep-sea anglerfish's huge final meal – YouTube

Pediculati

Anglerfishes are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes /ˌlɒfəˈfɔːrmz/. They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a fleshy growth from the fish's head (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure.

Some anglerfish are also notable for extreme sexual dimorphism and sexual parasitism of the small male on the much larger female, seen in the suborder Ceratioidei. In these species, males may be several orders of magnitude smaller than females.

Anglerfish occur worldwide. Some are pelagic, while others are benthic; some live in the deep sea (e.g., Ceratiidae), while others on the continental shelf (e.g., the frogfishes Antennariidae and the monkfish/goosefish Lophiidae). Pelagic forms are most laterally compressed, whereas the benthic forms are often extremely dorsoventrally compressed (depressed), often with large upward-pointing mouths.


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