Lophius piscatorius; angler fishing-frog frog-fish or sea-devil, 19th century illustration by Olof Gylling (1850-1928)
The angler, also sometimes called fishing-frog, frog-fish or sea-devil, Lophius piscatorius, is a monkfish in the family Lophiidae. It is found in coastal waters of the northeast Atlantic, from the Barents Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has a very large head which is broad, flat and depressed; the rest of the body appears to be a mere appendage. The wide mouth extends all the way around the anterior circumference of the head, and both jaws are armed with bands of long pointed teeth. These are inclined inwards, and can be closed so as to offer no impediment to an object gliding towards the stomach, but to prevent its escape from the mouth. It has only one eye. The pectoral and pelvic fins are so articulated as to perform the functions of feet, so that the fish is able to walk along the bottom of the sea, where it generally hides itself in the sand or amongst seaweed. All round its head and also along the body the skin bears fringed appendages resembling short fronds of seaweed, a structure which, combined with the extraordinary faculty of assimilating the colour of the body to its surroundings, assists this fish greatly in camouflaging itself in the places which it selects on account of the abundance of prey. Female anglers grow to a length of more than 2 m.
Size: 5070px × 3455px
Photo credit: © markku murto/art / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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