Ceratias
{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}
{{Automatic Taxobox
| image = Ceratias holboelli.jpg
| image_caption = Kroyer's Deep-sea Angler Fish (C. holboelli)
| image2 = Ceratias uranoscopus.jpg
| image2_caption = Stargazing Seadevil (C. uranoscopus)
| taxon = Ceratias
| authority = Krøyer, 1845
| type_species = Ceratias holboelli
| type_species_authority = Krøyer, 1845
| synonyms = {{Genus list
| Mancalias | Gill, 1878
| Miopsaras | Gilbert, 1905
| Parrichthys | Barbour, 1942
| Reganichthys | Bigelow & Barbour, 1944
| Reganula | Bigelow & Barbour, 1944
| Typlopsaras | Gill, 1883
| Miopsaras myops | Gilbert, 1905 (nomen dubium)
| Typhloceratias firthi | Barbour, 1942b(nomen dubium)
| Parrichthys merrimani | Barbour, 1942b (nomen dubium)
}}
}}
Ceratias is a genus of marine ray-finned fish sometimes referred to as the doublewart- or giant seadevils, belonging to the family Ceratiidae, the warty sea devils. This fishes in this genus are found throughout the world's oceans.
Taxonomy
Ceratias was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1845 by the Danish zoologist Henrik Nikolai Krøyer when he described Ceratias holboelli.{{Cof family|family=Ceratiidae|access-date=8 August 2024}} The type locality of C. holboelli was given as Southern Greenland.{{Cof genus|genus=Ceratias|access-date=8 August 2024}} The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus in the family Ceratiidae within the suborder Ceratioidei of the anglerfish order Lophiiformes.{{cite book |author1=Nelson, J.S. |author1-link=Joseph S. Nelson |author2=Grande, T.C. |author3=Wilson, M.V.H. |year=2016 |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |place=Hoboken, NJ |pages=508–518 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |lccn=2015037522 |oclc=951899884 |ol=25909650M |doi=10.1002/9781119174844}} Within the Ceratioidei this family is a sister taxon to the Centrophrynidae.{{cite journal |author=Theodore W. Pietsch |author-link=Theodore Wells Pietsch III |name-list-style=and |author2=James Wilder Orr |year=2007 |title=Phylogenetic Relationships of Deep-Sea Anglerfishes of the Suborder Ceratioidei (Teleostei: Lophiiformes) Based on Morphology |journal=Copeia |volume=2007 |issue=1 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1643/0045-8511(2007)7[1:PRODAO]2.0.CO;2 |jstor=4126495 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4126495}}
Etymology
Ceratias means "horn bearer", an allusion to the esca sticking up from the snout.{{cite web |url=https://etyfish.org/lophiiformes21/ |title=Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 2): Families CAULOPHRYNIDAE, NEOCERATIIDAE, MELANOCETIDAE, HIMANTOLOPHIDAE, DICERATIIDAE, ONEIRODIDAE, THAUMATICHTHYIDAE, CENTROPHRYNIDAE, CERATIIDAE, GIGANTACTINIDAE and LINOPHRYNIDAE |author=Christopher Scharpf |date=3 June 2024 |access-date=8 August 2024 |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf}}
Species
There are currently three recognized species in this genus:{{FishBase genus | genus = Ceratias| month = June | year = 2024}}
- Ceratias holboelli Krøyer, 1845 (Krøyer's deep sea angler fish)
- Ceratias tentaculatus Norman, 1930 (southern seadevil)
- Ceratias uranoscopus J. Murray, 1877 (stargazing seadevil)
Characteristics
Ceratias warty seadevils have metamorphosed females that are distinguished from those of the triplewart seadevil, the only member of the other Ceratiid genus Cryptopsaras, in having a long illicium. The illicium is twice as long as the bulb of the esca. They also have two modified first dorsal fin rays, or caruncles on the midline of the back immediately in front of the main fin. There is also no anterior spine in the suboperculum. In the males of this genus the upper and lower pairs of denticular teeth are almost the same size. The larvae. males and the juvenile fenmales do not have any pignmentin the subdermal layer.{{cite journal |author=Theodore W. Pietsch |author-link=Theodore Wells Pietsch III |year=1986 |title=Systematics and Distribution of Bathypelagic Anglerfishes of the Family Ceratiidae (Order: Lophiiformes) |journal=Copeia |volume=1986 |issue=2 |pages=479–493 |doi=10.2307/1445006 |jstor=1445006 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1445006}} The largest species in the genus is Krøyer's deep sea angler fish which has a maximum published total length of {{cvt|120|cm}}.{{Cite book |last=Pietsch |first=Theodore W. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1298208235 |title=Oceanic anglerfishes: extraordinary diversity in the deep sea |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94255-4 |location=Berkeley |oclc=1298208235|pages=323-328}}
Distribution and habitat
Ceratias wart sea devils are found throughout the world's oceans at depths from the surface to {{cvt|4400|m}}.{{Fishbase|Ceratias|uranoscopus|month=June|year=2024}}{{Fishbase|Ceratias|holboelli|month=June|year=2024}} Only adults appear in colder polar waters.
References
{{Reflist}}
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