Monkfish
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- For the British TV series character Inspector Monkfish, see The Fast Show.
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Lophius americanus |
Monkfish is the common name of a number of different species of fish.
Most of the fish referred to as monkfish belong to the genus Lophius, in the anglerfish family Lophiidae. Monkfish is the most common English name for this genus in the NW Atlantic but goosefish is used as the equivalent term on the eastern coast of North America. As the most common anglerfish found in coastal waters around the British Isles, it can be known by that name alone.
A second group of fish also known as monkfish are members of the genus Squatina, in the angel shark family Squatinidae. These are of somewhat similar shape to the anglerfish, but completely unrelated; like the true sharks, they are elasmobranchs. These fish are only of minor significance for human consumption, though they are endangered because they are caught as bycatch by trawlers.
The present article primarily deals with the monkfish in genus Lophius. The species caught in North American waters is usually Lophius americanus; that caught in Europe is Lophius piscatorius. The culinary use of the two species is similar. Their appearance is unusual as they are "mostly head", and they are known for their large mouths and relatively ugly appearance. However, the tail meat is widely used in cooking and is often compared to lobster tail in taste and texture. It is therefore sometimes referred to as "poor man's lobster." It is mostly found in the coastal Atlantic areas.
The monkfish, also sometimes called fishing-frog, frog-fish, sea-devil is well known off the coasts of Great Britain and Europe generally, the grotesque shape of its body and its singular habits having attracted the attention of naturalists of all ages. To the North Sea fishermen this fish is known as the "monk," a name which more properly belongs to Rhina squatina, a fish allied to the skates. 16th century folklore suggests that the unusual name came from a noise emitted from the fish when out of the water, which sounded like the prayers heard in monasteries at the time. Its head is of enormous size, broad, flat and depressed, the remainder of the body appearing merely like an appendage. The wide mouth extends all round the anterior circumference of the head; and both jaws are armed with bands of long pointed teeth, which are inclined inwards, and can be depressed so as to offer no impediment to an object gliding towards the stomach, but to prevent its escape from the mouth. The pectoral and ventral fins are so articulated as to perform the functions of feet, the fish being enabled to move, or rather to walk, on the bottom of the sea, where it generally hides itself in the sand or amongst sea-weed. All round its head and also along the body the skin bears fringed appendages resembling short fronds of sea-weed, a structure which, combined with the extraordinary faculty of assimilating the colour of the body to its surroundings, assists this fish greatly in concealing itself in places which it selects on account of the abundance of prey.
The monkfish has three long filaments sprouting from the middle of its head; these are the detached and modified three first spines of the anterior dorsal fin. As with all anglerfish species, the longest filament is the first, which terminates in an irregular growth of flesh, and is movable in all directions; this "tentacle" is used as a lure to attract other fishes, which the monkfish then seizes with its enormous jaws, devouring them whole. Experiments have shown, however, that whether the prey has been attracted to the lure or not is not strictly relevant, as the action of the jaws is an automatic reflex triggered by contact with the tentacle.
They are also characterised by (again, as with all anglerfish species) an enormously distensible stomach, which allows an individual monkfish to swallow prey fully as large as itself. It grows to a length of more than 5 ft.; specimens of 3 ft. are common.
The spawn of the angler is very remarkable. It consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3 ft. broad and 25 to 30 ft. in length. The eggs in this sheet are in a single layer, each in its own little cavity. The spawn is free in the sea. The larvae are free-swimming and have the pelvic fins elongated into filaments.
The British species is found all round the coasts of Europe and western North America, but becomes scarce beyond 60° N. latitude; it occurs also on the coasts of the Cape of Good Hope. A second species (Lophius budegassa) inhabits the Mediterranean, and a third (L. setigerus) the coasts of China and Japan. Monkfish liver, known as ankimo, is considered a delicacy in Japan.
The term monkfish has also been used for a sea monster of the north-west Atlantic bearing a passing resemblance to a monk (also known as a sea monk).
There is concern over the sustainability of Monkfish fishing [1]. The method most commonly used to catch Monkfish, beam trawling, has been described as damaging to seafloor habitats. In February 2007, the British supermarket chain ASDA banned Monkfish from their stores [2].
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Compleat Lophius
- Monkfish facts, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
- NOAA Monkfish Research Program
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
