Family Himantolophidae
Taxonomy: Family with a single genus and 18 recognised species; a single species recorded from Australian waters.
Distribution, ecology and habitat: Widely distributed in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, most commonly between 40°S and 40°N, but also recorded in polar regions of the North Atlantic; meso- and bathypelagic.
Characteristics:
Females - large , globose body, head large with a pair of horn-like spines on top of the head, eye small to tiny; mouth large, oblique, reaching to below eye, lower jaw stout, projecting beyond upper jaw; jaw teeth moderately short, slender, curved and depressible, absent from vomer. Illicium stout, tipped with a prominent, ornate esca, often with many tentacles; soft dorsal and anal fins short-based, posteriorly placed on body near caudal fin;3 radial bones at base of pectoral fin, pelvic fins absent. Skin covered with prominent dermal spines or spinules; lateral line in form of small papillae, snout and anterior part of lower jaw with numerous wart-like dermal papillae.
Males - free-living, very small, elongate to deep-bodied, eyes well-developed, olfactory organs large, nostrils directed laterally; jaw teeth absent, upper and lower denticular bones with many recurved denticles.
Size: Females to 470 mm SL, males to 39 mm SL.
Food and feeding: Predators of the deep ocean midwaters feeding on fishes, crustaceans and squid.
Reproduction and early life history: Larvae with short, almost spherical, strongly inflated bodies, pectoral fins not greatly prolonged, pelvic fins absent. Larvae exhibit sexual dimorphism, with females having a small, club-shaped illicium on the head. Larvae metamorphose at a relatively large size, between 20 and 33 mm SL.
Fisheries: no commercial importance.
Remarks: Lure of large females of Himantolophus appelii may resemble a small oceanic squid.
Australian species:
- Himantolophus appelii (Clarke, 1878) Prickly Footballfish CAAB 37215001
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.
Bertelsen, E. & G. Kreft. 1988. The ceratioid family Himantolophidae (Pisces, Lophiiformes). Steenstrupia. 14(2): 9-89.
Pietsch, T.W. 1999. Himantolophidae: Footballfishes (deepsea anglerfishes), p. 2029, 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. Himantolophidae. Himantolophus. Footballfishes. Version 05 November 2005 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Himantolophus/22004/2005.11.05 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/