Family Caulophrynidae
Taxonomy: Family with 2 genera and 5 species; a single species in Australian waters.
Distribution, ecology and habitat: Found nearly worldwide in bathypelagic and sometimes mesopelagic waters at 100-1500 m.
Characteristics:
Females with short, rounded bodies; mouth large, lower jaw reaching beyond pectoral-fin base; jaw teeth slender, recurved, depressible. Dorsal and anal fins with extremely elongated filamentous rays, caudal-fin rays 8, pelvic fins absent; sensory neuromasts of lateral line system at tips of long filamentous finrays. Esca simple or with filaments and appendages, escal bulb absent. Skin naked, dermal spines absent.
Males much smaller than females, moderately elongate, eyes large, nostrils and olfactory organs large; teeth absent from jaws, denticular bones with tooth-like structures to enable attachment to females. Dorsal and anal fins not prolonged, pectoral fins large, pelvic fins only present in juveniles.
Size: Females to 200 mm; males to 16 mm TL.
Food and feeding: Prey on other fishes.
Reproduction and early life history: Oviparous, with external fertilization. Larvae short, rounded, skin inflated; pectoral and pelvic fins well-developed; rudimentary illicium present in both sexes. Larval metamorphosis begins at 8-10 mm SL.
Fisheries: no commercial importance.
Australian species:
- Caulophryne jordani Goode & Bean, 1896 Fanfin Angler CAAB 37221001
References:
Bertelsen, E. 1951. The ceratioid fishes. Ontogeny, taxonomy, distribution and biology. Dana Rept. 39: 276 pp.
Bertelsen, E. 1984. Ceratioidei: Development and relationships. pp. 325-334, In Moser, H.G., W.J. Richards, D.M. Cohen, M.P. Fahay, A.W. Kendall, Jr. & S.L. Richardson (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. Spec. Publ. No. 1. Amer. Soc. Ichthy. Herpet., ix + 760 pp.
Pietsch, T.W. 1979. Ceratioid anglerfishes of the family Caulophrynidae, with the description of a new genus and species from the Banda Sea. Contrib. Sci., Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co. 310: 1-25.
Pietsch, T.W. 1999. Caulophrynidae: Fanfin anglerfishes (deepsea anglerfishes), p. 2026, In Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem. Species identification guide for fisheries purposes. The living marine resources of the western central Pacific. Batoid fishes, chimeras and bony fishes. Part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome.
Pietsch, T.W. 2005. Dimorphism, parasitism, and sex revisited: modes of reproduction among deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes). Ichthyol. Res. 52: 207-236.
Pietsch, T.W. & Kenaley, C.P. 2005. Caulophrynidae. Fanfin seadevils. Version 03 November 2005 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Caulophrynidae/22025/2005.11.03 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/