Fanfin

Fanfins or hairy anglerfish are a family, Caulophrynidae, of anglerfishes. They are found in deep, lightless waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.^[1]

They are distinguished from other anglerfishes by the lack of the expanded escal bulb — the bioluminescent lure at the end of the illicium — and by their very long dorsal and anal fin rays.

As in other anglerfishes, males are one-tenth the size of females and, after larval and adolescent free-living stages, spend the rest of their lives parasitically attached to a female.^[2] The fanfin has a small, spherical body with long protuberances.

References

1. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Caulophrynidae" in FishBase. February 2005 version.
2. ↑ Theodore W. Pietsch (2005). "Caulophrynidae". Tree of Life web project. Retrieved 4 April 2006.