Goosefish

---

title: "Goosefish" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lophiidae", "taxa-named-by-constantine-samuel-rafinesque", "lophiiformes"] description: "Family of fishes" topic_path: "general/lophiidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goosefish" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of fishes ::

| fossil_range = | image = Lophius americanus.jpg | image_caption = Lophius americanus | image2 = Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.ART.837 - Lophiomus setigerus (Vahl) - Kawahara Keiga - 1823 - 1829 - Siebold Collection - pencil drawing - water colour.jpeg | image2_caption = Lophiomus setigerus | taxon = Lophiidae | display_parents = 3 | parent_authority = Regan, 1912 | authority = Rafinesque, 1810 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = see text

Goosefishes, sometimes called anglers or monkfishes, are a family, the Lophiidae, of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes. The family includes 30 recognized species. These fishes are found in all the world's oceans except for the Antarctic Ocean.

Taxonomy

The goosefish family, Lophiidae, was first proposed as a genus in 1810 by the French polymath and naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The Lophiidae is the only family in the monotypic suborder Lophioidei, this is one of 5 suborders of the Lophiiformes. The Lophioidei is considered to be the most basal of the suborders in the order.

Etymology

The goosefish family, Lophiidae, takes its name from its type genus, Lophius. Lophius means "mane" and is presumably a reference to the first 3 spines of the first dorsal fin which are tentacle like, with 3 smaller spines behind them.

Genera

The goosefish family, Lophiidae, contains the following extant genera: | Lophiodes | Goode & Bean, 1896 | Lophiomus | Gill, 1883 | Lophius | Linnaeus, 1758 | Sladenia | Regan, 1908

Fossil taxa

The following extinct taxa are also among those included in the family Lophiidae:

• Genus Caruso Carnevale & Pietsch, 2012
  • Caruso brachysomus (Agassiz, 1835) (Early Eocene of Italy)
• Genus Emmachaere D. S. Jordan & Gilbert, 1919
  • Emmachaere rhomalea (D. S. Jordan, 1921) (Late Miocene of California, US)
• Genus Eosladenia Bannikov, 2004
  • Eosladenia caucasica Bannikov, 2004 (Middle Eocene of North Caucasus, Russia)
• Genus Sharfia Peitsch & Carnevale, 2011
  • Sharfia mirabilis Pietsch & Carnevale, 2011 (Early Eocene of Italy)

Characteristics

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Expl2183_(9734084875).jpg" caption="A goosefish perched on the sea floor"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Lophius-americanus-aquarium.jpg" caption="American angler (''[[Lophius americanus]]'') at the [[New England Aquarium"] ::

Goosefishes in the family Lophiidae have flattened heads and bodies covered in thin skin and are further characterised by the possession of pelvic fins with the first, spiny dorsal fin having its origin close to the rear of the head and this fin is supported by between one and three spines. The frontmost spine, the illicium, has a flap of flesh, the esca, at its tip and is used as a lure to attract prey to within reach of the cavernous mouth. There are 4 pharyngobranchials, the 4th being toothed, and they have a large pseudobranch. The body has no scales and the frontal bones of the skull are fused. They have a very wide, flattened head, although Sladenia has a more rounded head, with well developed teeth. The lower jaw has a fringe of small flaps along its edge and these extend along the head onto the flanks. The second dorsal fin is supported by between 8 and 12 soft rays while the anal fin contains between 6 and 10 soft rays. Most taxa have 18 or 19 vertebrae but in Lophius this count is between 26 and 31. The opening to the gills os located to the rear of the pectoral fin base. The largest species in the family is the angler (Lophius piscatorius) which has a maximum published standard length of 200 cm while the smallest is Lophiodes fimbriatus with a maximum published standard length of 7.5 cm.

Distribution

The goosefishes, family Lophiidae are found in the temperate, tropical, and subtropical Atlantic Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Habitat and biology

The goosefishes are typically found on soft substrates on the continental margin, most frequently at depths greater than 200 m, and there are species which have been found at depths greater than 1000 m. A few species, such as the American angler (Lophius americanus) are found in shallower waters, sometimes moving into bays and estuaries with high-salinity water in the winter. At least in the genus Lophius the females release their spawn enclosed within a gelatinous mass, which has been compared to the spawn of toads in appearance, which floats. They have pelagic eggs and larvae with demersal juveniles and benthic adults.

Utilisation

Goosefishes, particularly several of the large species in the genus Lophius, commonly known as monkfishes in northern Europe, are important commercially fished species. The liver of monkfish, known as ankimo, is considered a delicacy in Japan.

References

References

1. C. T. Regan. (1912). "The classification of the teleostean fishes of the order Pediculati". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology.
2. (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa.
3. (2016). "Fishes of the World". [[John Wiley & Sons]].
4. (2010). "Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective". BMC Evolutionary Biology.
5. Christopher Scharpf. (14 November 2022). "Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 1): Families LOPHIIDAE, ANTENNARIIDAE, TETRABRACHIIDAE, LOPHICHTHYIDAE, BRACHIONICHTHYIDAE, CHAUNACIDAE and OGCOCEPHALIDAE". Christopher Scharpf.
6. {{Cof family
7. "Family Lophiidae Cuvier (anglerfish)".
8. Carnevale, Giorgio. (2012). "†''Caruso'', a new genus of anglerfishes from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy, with a comparative osteology and phylogeny of the teleost family Lophiidae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
9. California Academy of Sciences. (1890). "Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences". San Francisco : California Academy of Sciences.
10. (March 14, 2011). "Pietsch, Theodore W; Giorgio Carnevale,. "A New Genus and Species of Anglerfish (Teleostei: Lophiiformes: Lophiidae) from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy."". [[Copeia]]. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.
11. (2008). "''Lophius'' in the world: a synthesis on the common features and life strategies". ICES Journal of Marine Science.
12. (5 September 2016). "Anglerfish". Laboratory News.
13. "Family: LOPHIIDAE, Anglerfishes, Goosefish, Goosefishes". [[Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute]].
14. {{FishBase family. (2024)
15. John H. Caruso. (2002). "Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae)". FAO, Rome.
16. (2009). "Biology and Ecology of Anglerfishes of the genus ''Lophius'' (Lophiidae, Lophiiformes) with emphasis in ''Lophius gastrophysus'' Miranda-Rineiro, 1915: Current Status". Oecologia Brasiliensis - Artigos de revisão - Edição submissões espontâneas.
17. John H. Caruso. (2005). "Lophiidae". Tree of Life web project.
18. Nami. (9 December 2018). "Ankimo あん肝". justonecookbook.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::