Double angler

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Double anglers
Two-rod anglerfish, Diceratias bispinosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Diceratiidae
Genera

Bufoceratias
Diceratias
See text for species.

Double anglers are a family, Diceratiidae, of anglerfishes. They are found in deep, lightless waters of the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans.[1]

They are easily distinguished from other anglerfishes by their possession of a second light-bearing dorsal fin spine immediately behind the illicium (the bioluminescent lure present in other anglerfishes).

As in other anglerfishes, males are very much smaller than the females and, after a larval and adolescent free-living stage, spend the rest of their life parasitically attached to a female.

Species in this family are known almost entirely from adolescent females: only two larvae, one adult female, and one adult male have been found.[2]

The first specimen of the Two-rod anglerfish (first called Ceratias bispinosus) was collected during the expedition of the HMS Challenger during the years 1873-1876. It was first described by Albert Günther in 1887 in volume 22 of "Report on the deep-sea fishes collected by H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873-76. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of ADD" [3]

Species

There are six species in two genera:

  • Genus Bufoceratias
    • Bufoceratias shaoi Pietsch, Ho & Chen, 2004.
    • Bufoceratias thele (Uwate, 1979).
    • Bufoceratias wedli (Pietschmann, 1926).
  • Genus Diceratias
    • Diceratias bispinosus (Günther, 1887). (Two-rod anglerfish)
    • Diceratias pileatus Uwate, 1979.
    • Diceratias trilobus Balushkin & Fedorov, 1986.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Diceratiidae" in FishBase. February 2006 version.
  2. ↑ Theodore W. Pietsch (2005). "Diceratiidae". Tree of Life web project. Retrieved 4 April 2006. 
  3. ↑ "Catalog of Fishes". California Academy of Sciences - Ichthyology. 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
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