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double angler

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Diceratias bispinosus 2.jpg

| image_caption = Diceratias bispinosus

| taxon = Diceratiidae

| authority = Regan & Trewavas, 1932

| synonyms = * Aeschynichthyidae Golvan, 1962

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = See text

}}

Double anglers or doublespine seadevils comprise the family Diceratiidae, being a small and little known family of rarely encountered marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes. The two genera and seven species of this family are found in the deeper waters of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are distinguished from other deep sea anglerfishes by the possession of a second bioluminescent cephalic spine. The fishes in this family were known only from metamorphosed females and the males were not described until 1983.

Taxonomy

The double angler family, Diceratiidae, was first proposed as a family in 1932 by the British ichthyologists Charles Tate Regan and Ethelwynn Trewavas.{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }} The type genus of the family, Diceratias, had been proposed as a subgenus of Ceratias in 1887 by the German-born British ichthyologist Albert Günther with its type species being Caratias bispinosus which Günther had described from a holotype collected from off Banda Island at a depth of {{cvt|360|fathom}} on the Challenger expedition of 1872-1876.{{Cof genus|genus=Diceratias|access-date=28 June 2024}} The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this family in 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}}

Etymology

The double angler family name is derived from the genus name Diceratias which prefixes di, meaning "two" onto the genus name Ceratias. This genus was thought to be a subgenus of Ceratias with two cephalic spines instead of one.{{cite web |url=https://etyfish.org/lophiiformes2/ |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=25 June 2024 |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf}}

Genera and species

The double angler family, Diceratiidae, is made up of two genera with seven recognised valid species:

Characteristics

Doubleanglers are sexually dimorphic. The metamorphosed females can be separated from other females in the suborder Ceratioidei by the possession of a second, club-like exposed cephalic spine bearing a bioluminescent organ at its tip. They also have a large mouth which reaches back beyond the eye, a well developed spine on the symphysis of the mandible which reaches just past the maxilla, the presence of vomerine teeth,{{cite journal |author=Ken Uwate |year=1979 |title=Revision of the Anglerfish Diceratiidae with Descriptions of Two New Species |journal=Copeia |volume=1979 |issue=1 |pages=129–144 |doi=10.2307/1443739 |jstor=1443739 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1443739|url-access=subscription }} there are spines in the skin, the dorsal fin has between five and seven rays while the anal fin has four rays and they have a small pelvic bone which is joined to the cleithrum. The second cephalic spine is positioned directly behind the base of the first cephalic spine, or illicium and can be pulled down beneath the skin in individuals with a total length greater than {{cvt|1.3|cm}} leaving a small pore to show its location.{{cite book |author=Theodore W Pietsch |author-link=Theodore Wells Pietsch III |chapter=Order Lophiiformes |pages=281–307 |title=Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean |volume=2 |editor1=Phillip C Heemstra |editor2=Elaine Heemstra |editor3=David A Ebert |editor4=Wouter Holleman |editor5=John E Randall |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-990951-29-9 |publisher=South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity |url=https://saiab.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1._wiof_volume_2_text.pdf}} These anglerfishes vary in length from a maximum published standard length of {{cvt|10.1|cm}} for Bufoceratias shaoi to a maximum published total length of {{cvt|25|cm}} for B. wedli.{{FishBase family|family=Diceratiidae|month=February|year=2024}} The males have spinules in the skin, they have two teeth on the snout and two transverse rows of 4 or 5 teeth on the lower jaw, all separate from each other. The eyes and nostrils of the males are directed laterally.{{cite journal |author=E. Bertelsen |author2=Theodore W. Pietsch |author2-link=Theodore Wells Pietsch III |name-list-style=and |year=1983 |title=The Ceratioid Anglerfishes of Australia |journal=Records of the Australian Museum |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=77–93 |doi=10.3853/j.0067-1975.35.1983.303 |url=https://media.australian.museum/media/Uploads/Journals/17596/303_complete.pdf}}{{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=352-359}}

Distribution and habitat

Doube anglers are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans in tropical and subtropical waters over the continental shelf and continental margin, at depths between {{cvt|0|and|2306|m}}.{{FishBase|Bufoceratias|shaoi|month=February|year=2024}}{{Fishbase|Diceratias|bispinosus|month=February|year=2024}}

Biology

Double anglers are rare fishes and only the metamorphosed females have been described, the males are thought to be free-living and not to be sexual parasites of the females.{{cite web |author=Dianne J. Bray |title=Double anglerfishes, Diceratiidae in Fishes of Australia |access-date=28 June 2024 |url=https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/family/51 |publisher=Museums Victoria}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q255656}}

Category:Diceratiidae

Category:Ceratioidei

Category:Deep sea fish

Category:Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan

Category:Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas