Anarhichadidae

The wolffish are a family, Anarhichadidae, of perciform fish. They are native to cold waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where they live on the continental shelf and slope, to depths of about 600 metres (2,000 ft). They are bottom-feeders, eating hard-shelled invertebrates such as clams, echinoderms and crustaceans, which they crush with strong canine and molar teeth. The longest species, Anarrhichthys ocellatus, grows to more than 2 metres (6.6 ft) in length.

Species

There are five species in two genera:

• Genus Anarhichas
  • Northern wolffish, Anarhichas denticulatus Krøyer, 1845.
  • Atlantic wolffish, Anarhichas lupus Linnaeus, 1758.
  • Spotted wolffish, Anarhichas minor Olafsen, 1772.
  • Bering wolffish, Anarhichas orientalis Pallas, 1814.
• Genus Anarrhichthys
  • Wolf eel, Anarrhichthys ocellatus Ayres, 1855.

Timeline of genera

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2004). "Anarhichadidae" in FishBase. October 2004 version.
• "Anarhichadidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=171335. Retrieved 5 December 2004. 
• Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2011-05-18.