25:
645:
117:
93:
706:; the seadevils' highly distensible stomachs also allow them to swallow prey larger than themselves, which is an important adaptation to life in the lean depths. In contrast with males, females are poor swimmers and spend most of their time motionless, waiting for something to approach their lures. Predators of black seadevils are not well known, but include
545:
lining the jaws of a cavernous, oblique mouth. These teeth are depressible and present only in females. Some species have a scattering of epidermal spinules on the body, and the scales (when present) are conical, hollow, and translucent. Like other anglerfishes, black seadevils possess an
584:; these bacteria are thought to enter the esca via an external duct (in at least two species, the esca is not luminous until this duct develops, suggesting the bacteria originate from the surrounding seawater). The bacteria, belonging to the family
635:
Females have large, highly distensible stomachs which give the ventral region a flabby appearance. In life, black seadevils are a dark brown to black. The skin is extremely soft and easily abraded during collection or even by simple handling.
934:"Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 2): Families CAULOPHRYNIDAE, NEOCERATIIDAE, MELANOCETIDAE, HIMANTOLOPHIDAE, DICERATIIDAE, ONEIRODIDAE, THAUMATICHTHYIDAE, CENTROPHRYNIDAE, CERATIIDAE, GIGANTACTINIDAE and LINOPHRYNIDAE"
429:, which means a "large sea creature", typically used to refer to whales. Günther did not explain this choice of name but did note the uniform black colour, including the inside of the mouth of
660:. A brief attachment to the female does probably occur, however, as evidenced by a case of mistaken identity: A male humpback anglerfish was found attached to the lip of a female
616:
in melanocetids: while females may reach a length of 18 cm (7 in) or more, males remain under 3 cm (1 in). Aside from jaw teeth, males also lack lures.
570:". The esca is simple in black seadevils (with either a conical terminus or anterior and posterior ridges in some species), and both it and the illicium are free of
1190:
652:
The
Melanocetidae appear to buck the trend in deepsea anglers, in that the males—despite not feeding as an adult and thus being little more than couriers of
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672:. Little else is known of their reproduction: They are presumed to not be guarders, releasing buoyant eggs into the water which become part of the
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and gradually descend with maturity. Males likely outnumber—and mature well before—females by a wide margin.
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33:
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The black seadevil family, Melanocetidae, was first proposed as a subfamily in 1878 by the
American biologist
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377:
989:
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families, black seadevils are named for their intimidating appearance and typically pitch black skin. The
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714:, who led the dive, spotted a Black Seadevil at 600 m (1,900 ft) during an exploration of the
505:
467:
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1051:. M. Eric Anderson and Robin W. Leslie. February 2005 version. J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology.
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541:, globose body, a large head, and generous complement of menacingly large, sharp, glassy, fang-like
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1057:. Peter Herring. February 2005 version. Microbiology Today, Vol. 29., November 2002.
1049:"Review of the deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of southern Africa"
620:
are absent in both sexes. All fins are rounded with slightly incised membranes; the
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While adults have been trawled from as deep as 3,000 m (9,900 ft),
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is positioned far back from the head, larger than and above the retrorse
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Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014).
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The black seadevil family, Melanocetidae, contains the single genus
668:) of an unrelated (though also nonparasitic) family of anglerfish,
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The females use their bioluminescent "fishing poles" to lure both
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appear to remain in the upper 100 m (330 ft) of the
18:
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Oceanic
Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea
417:
The black seadevil family, Melanocetidae and the genus name
964:"On a new genus of pediculate fish from the Sea of Madeira"
537:
Black seadevils are characterised by a gelatinous, mostly
1015:"Black Seadevil caught on camera at depth of 1,900 feet"
288:. They are found in tropical to temperate waters of the
718:
via a remote-operated diving vehicle on Nov. 22, 2014.
612:
space. Common among deepsea anglerfish is the strong
1085:
712:
California
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
1055:"Marine microlights: the luminous marine bacteria"
832:; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.).
797:; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.).
445:which has six valid species classified within it:
938:The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database
319:) was featured on the August 14, 1995, issue of
8:
600:The eyes of black seadevils are small; the
392:classifies the family Melanocetidae in the
1073:
562:"—and the latter being the bulbous,
91:
82:
770:
69:Learn how and when to remove this message
32:This article includes a list of general
871:; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016).
727:
300:, with one species known only from the
968:Annals and Magazine of Natural History
755:"Family-group names of recent fishes"
554:; the former being a modified dorsal
7:
1245:e8ffde49-a8ca-4af9-9bc5-a4dc89a8def8
799:"Genera in the family Melanocetidae"
932:Christopher Scharpf (3 June 2024).
656:—are free-living rather than
577:The bioluminescence is produced by
353:in 1864 by the German-born British
345:. The only genus in the family is
38:it lacks sufficient corresponding
14:
1064:, University of California Press.
115:
23:
848:California Academy of Sciences
809:California Academy of Sciences
1:
875:(5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
488:(Murray's abyssal anglerfish)
1296:Taxa named by Albert Günther
1312:
737:of the August 14 issue of
772:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1
245:
238:
227:
220:
112:Scientific classification
110:
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1044:. February 2005 version.
1034:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
988:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
694:and prey, which include
349:which was proposed as a
698:and small fish such as
53:more precise citations.
1036:"Family Melanocetidae"
834:"Species in the genus
666:Centrophryne spinulosa
649:
624:are small. The single
1060:Pietsch, T. W. 2009.
1002:. April 2012 version.
940:. Christopher Scharpf
885:10.1002/9781119174844
877:John Wiley & Sons
830:Eschmeyer, William N.
795:Eschmeyer, William N.
647:
506:Melanocetus polyactis
477:(Humpback anglerfish)
468:Melanocetus johnsonii
421:are a combination of
388:. The 5th edition of
325:magazine, becoming a
317:Melanocetus johnsonii
279:) are all within the
275:(with only two given
229:Melanocetus johnsonii
105:Melanocetus johnsonii
879:. pp. 508–518.
533:Physical description
451:Melanocetus eustalus
425:meaning "black" and
873:Fishes of the World
710:. Bruce Robison of
662:horned lantern fish
648:Humpback anglerfish
604:is larger than the
482:Melanocetus murrayi
390:Fishes of the World
370:humpback anglerfish
313:humpback anglerfish
257:are small, deepsea
101:Humpback anglerfish
990:"Species in genus
650:
351:monospecific genus
1268:
1267:
1079:Taxon identifiers
960:Dr Albert Günther
894:978-1-118-34233-6
843:Catalog of Fishes
804:Catalog of Fishes
614:sexual dimorphism
528:
516:Melanocetus rossi
511:
501:
493:Melanocetus niger
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476:
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271:. The five known
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49:this article by
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942:. Retrieved
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869:Nelson, J.S.
863:
851:. Retrieved
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812:. Retrieved
802:
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765:(2): 1–230.
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692:conspecifics
689:
685:water column
678:
665:
651:
640:Life history
634:
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586:Vibrionaceae
576:
568:fishing lure
558:—the "
536:
514:
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407:Lophiiformes
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277:common names
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228:
222:Type species
206:
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188:
169:Lophiiformes
104:
80:
65:
56:
37:
1286:Ceratioidei
1178:iNaturalist
1131:Melanocetus
1117:Melanocetus
1111:Wikispecies
1087:Melanocetus
992:Melanocetus
836:Melanocetus
700:lanternfish
696:crustaceans
674:zooplankton
618:Pelvic fins
560:fishing rod
510:Regan, 1925
443:Melanocetus
431:M. johnsoni
419:Melanocetus
397:Ceratioidei
382:M. johnsoni
374:M. johnsoni
347:Melanocetus
285:Melanocetus
207:Melanocetus
179:Ceratioidei
51:introducing
1275:Categories
903:2015037522
722:References
708:lancetfish
626:dorsal fin
401:anglerfish
309:anglerfish
259:lophiiform
247:See text.
194:T. N. Gill
175:Suborder:
34:references
1019:USA TODAY
919:25909650M
911:951899884
658:parasitic
579:symbiotic
572:denticles
539:scaleless
521:Balushkin
460:Van Duzer
413:Etymology
366:described
135:Kingdom:
129:Eukaryota
59:June 2024
1096:Wikidata
1041:FishBase
999:FishBase
962:(1865).
781:25543675
630:anal fin
594:in vitro
590:cultured
582:bacteria
548:illicium
394:suborder
364:when he
337:Taxonomy
302:Ross Sea
290:Atlantic
185:Family:
149:Chordata
145:Phylum:
139:Animalia
125:Domain:
1196:1360704
1170:2414302
1102:Q571546
944:25 June
853:25 June
814:25 June
759:Zootaxa
610:aphakic
525:Fedorov
473:Günther
456:Pietsch
437:Species
423:melanos
399:of the
386:Madeira
376:). The
273:species
264:of the
240:Species
213:Günther
202:Genus:
165:Order:
155:Class:
47:improve
1258:125803
1242:NZOR:
1235:181424
1209:164612
917:
909:
901:
891:
779:
681:larvae
527:, 1981
523:&
500:, 1925
475:, 1864
462:, 1980
458:&
296:, and
294:Indian
266:family
262:fishes
215:, 1864
196:, 1879
36:, but
1253:WoRMS
1191:IRMNG
1183:64214
1157:62Z4S
735:Cover
654:sperm
602:pupil
556:spine
543:teeth
498:Regan
427:cetus
404:order
331:fauna
281:genus
1230:NCBI
1204:ITIS
1165:GBIF
1144:3980
1139:BOLD
946:2024
907:OCLC
899:LCCN
889:ISBN
855:2024
816:2024
777:PMID
763:3882
740:Time
702:and
606:lens
552:esca
550:and
368:the
357:and
322:Time
1217:NBN
1152:CoL
1126:AFD
881:doi
767:doi
380:of
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