Lophiiidae; anglers
A family of fish trout. Also known as ugly fish. It is widely distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate waters of various oceans. There are 4 genera and 25 species in the world, and China has Cryptocephalus pseudosynthesis, brown pseudopyrip, Nai's pseudopyrip, yellow squid, black trout and so on. The body length is generally 200 to 300 mm, and the black trout can reach 500 mm. The body is flat and soft, and the trunk is thick and short. The head is large and wide, flattened and disc-shaped. The snout is wide. The eyes are located on the back of the head. Upper. The lower jaw is protruding. The upper and lower jaws, plough bones, and palate bones all have developed canine or fangs of varying sizes that can be inverted. The body is bare and scaleless , and there are many well-developed cortical protrusions on the periphery and sides of the head. The first dorsal fin has 5 to 6 fin spines, the first fin spine forms a kissing tentacle on the snout, the end is long and round, with a flap, and the second dorsal fin is opposite the fin and is located on the tail. The pectoral fin is broad, lateral, with small flaps at the edges, and 2 basal bones of the fins form a prosthetic arm at the base of the fin. The ventral fin is short and laryngeal. The caudal fin is small and rounded. With pyloric blind sac.
It is a warm-water and warm-water bottom carnivorous fish. It often lives on the seabed of the coastal continental shelf, creeping on the seabed and moving slowly. It inhabits sea areas with a water depth of 40 to 50 meters and a sedimenty bottom. Individual species live in the deep sea. Often half-buried in the sand and mud of the seabed, exposing large mouths and eyes, lurking still, the kissing tentacles specialized from the first fin spines into bait-like shapes swing in front of the mouth, luring other small fish and marine animals and preying on them. It feeds on totoaba, rays, gobies, etc., and also eats shrimp. Large 600 to 900 mm long catfish can also swim to the surface of the water to prey on water birds. The gonads begin to develop in winter and spawn in the spring. The eggs are floating, and several eggs are often wrapped in mucus sacs, and then the mucus sacs are split, and the eggs float alone on the surface of the sea. Hatched small fish are metamorphosed and complex, with thorns on their heads, which gradually disappear as they grow up. Adults spawn and move near shore and feed in large quantities, returning to deeper seas for wintering. Meat is edible.
Excerpt from: The Encyclopedia of China (2nd Edition), Volume 1, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2009