Family Diceratiidae
Taxonomy: 2 genera and 6 species; one species known from Australian waters.
Distribution, ecology and habitat: Worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; meso- and bathypelagic over continental shelf and slope
Characteristics:
Body short, deep, globe-shaped; mouth large, oblique, reaching beyond eye; jaw teeth slender, recurved, depressible, illicium relatively short to more than twice body length, with conspicuous luminescent esca at tip; a second dorsal-fin spine with a light organ on head immediately behind illicium base. Body covered with minute spinules; lateral-line system visible as small, round papillae on head and body
Males free-living, smaller than but not parasitic on females; eyes large, nostrils large; snout with a single pair of denticular teeth, lower jaw with two rows of denticular teeth; skin covered with spinules.
Size: Females to about 28 mm; male to 14 mm SL (only a single specimen known).
Food and feeding: Carnivores.
Reproduction and early life history: Little known. Oviparous; larvae with short, almost spherical body, skin inflated; head very large; pectoral fins not reaching beyond dorsal- and anal-fin bases, pelvic fins absent.
Fisheries: no commercial importance.
Australian species:
- Diceratias bispinosus (Günther, 1887) Horned Two-rod Angler CAAB 37214001
References:
Bertelsen, E. 1951. The ceratioid fishes. Ontogeny, taxonomy, distribution and biology. Dana Rept. 39: 276 pp.
Bertelsen, E. 1983. First records of metamorphosed males of the families Diceratiidae and Centrophrynidae (Pisces, Ceratioidei). Steenstrupia. 8(16): 309-315.
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. 1999. Diceratiidae. Diceratid anglerfishes (deepsea anglerfishes), P. 2030, 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. Diceratiidae. Double-spine seadevils. Version 05 November 2005 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Diceratiidae/22006/2005.11.05 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
Uwate, K.R. 1979. Revision of the anglerfish Diceratiidae with descriptions of two new species. Copeia 1979(1): 129-144.