Monkfish: description, habitat and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Monkfish is the most extravagant-looking member of the Anglerfish squad of the Rayfin class. It lives at an impressive depth, due to its unique ability to withstand enormous pressure. We invite you to get to know this deep-sea dweller, which has amazing taste, and learn some interesting facts about it.

Appearance

Let's get acquainted with the description of the monkfish - a marine fish that prefers deep crevices where sunlight never reaches. The European angler is a large fish, the body length reaches one and a half meters, about 70% falls on the head, the average weight is about 20 kg. The distinctive features of the fish are:

Huge mouth with lots of small but sharp teeth gives her a repulsive look. The fangs are positioned in the jaw in a special way: at an angle, which makes the capture of prey even more effective.
Naked and scaleless scalp with fringe, bumps and spikes also does not decoratedeep sea dweller.
On the head is the so-called fishing rod - a continuation of the dorsal fin, at the end of which is a leathery bait. This feature of the monkfish determines its second name - the anglerfish, despite the fact that the fishing rod is present only in females.
The bait consists of mucus and is a leathery bag that emits light due to the luminous bacteria living in the mucus. Interestingly, each type of anglerfish emits light of a certain color.
The upper jaw is more mobile than the lower one, and due to the flexibility of the bones, the fish have the ability to swallow prey of impressive size.
Small close-set round eyes are located on the top of the head.
The color of the fish is inconspicuous: from dark gray to dark brown, which helps anglers to successfully disguise themselves on the bottom and deftly grab prey.

It's interesting how a fish hunts: it hides with its bait out. As soon as some careless fish becomes interested, the devil will open his mouth and swallow it.

Habitat

Find out where the anglerfish (monkfish) lives. Habitat varies by species. So, European anglers prefer to live at a depth of up to 200 meters, but their deep-sea counterparts, of which more than a hundred varieties have been discovered, have chosen depressions and crevices for themselves, where there is a lot of pressure and no sunlight at all. They can be found at depths of 1.5 to 5 km in the seas of the Atlantic Ocean.

Anglerfish meetand in the so-called Southern (Antarctic) Ocean, which unites the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, washing the shores of the white continent - Antarctica. The monkfish also lives in the waters of the B altic and Barents, Okhotsk and Yellow Seas, off the coast of Korea and Japan, some species are found in the Black Sea.

Varieties

Sea devils are fish from the Anglerfish squad. Currently, eight species are known, one of them is extinct. Representatives of each of them have a characteristic intimidating appearance.

American angler. It belongs to the bottom varieties, the body length is impressive - adult females are often more than a meter. In appearance, they resemble tadpoles because of the huge head. Average life expectancy is up to 30 years.
South European anglerfish or black-bellied. The body length is about a meter, the name of the species is associated with the color of the peritoneum, the back and sides of the fish are pinkish-gray. The average life expectancy is about 20 years.
West Atlantic anglerfish - demersal fish reaching a length of 60 cm. Fishing object.
Cape (Burmese). The most noticeable part of its body is a giant flattened head, and a short tail is also characteristic.
Japanese (yellow, Far East). They have an unusual body color - brown-yellow, live in the Sea of Japan, East China Seas.
South African. Lives off the southern coast of Africa.
European. A very large anglerfish, whose body length reaches 2 meters, is distinguished by a huge crescent-shaped mouth,small sharp teeth resemble hooks in their shape. Rod length - up to 50 cm.

Thus, all types of anglers have common characteristics - a huge mouth with a large number of small but sharp teeth, a fishing rod with bait - the most unusual way of hunting among the inhabitants of the underwater depths, bare skin. In general, the look of the fish is really frightening, so the loud name is quite justified.

Lifestyle

Scientists believe that the first anglers appeared on the planet more than 120 million years ago. The shape of the body and the specifics of the lifestyle are largely due to where the angler prefers to live. If the fish is bottom, then it is almost flat, but if the angler has settled closer to the surface, then it has a body compressed from the sides. But regardless of the habitat, the monkfish (angler fish) is a predator.

Damn - the fish is unique, it moves along the bottom not like its other counterparts, but with jumps made thanks to a strong pectoral fin. From this, another name for a marine inhabitant is a frog fish.

Pisces prefer not to expend energy, therefore, even swimming, they spend no more than 2% of their energy reserve. They are distinguished by enviable patience, they are able to not move for a long time, waiting for prey, they practically do not even breathe - the pause between breaths is about 100 seconds.

Food

Previously, it was considered how monkfish hunt prey, attracting it with a luminous bait. Interestingly, the fish does not perceive the size of itsvictims, often large individuals, larger in size than the angler itself, often fall into its mouth, so it cannot eat them. And due to the specifics of the device, the jaw cannot even let go.

Anglerfish is famous for its incredible gluttony and courage, so it can even attack scuba divers. Of course, deaths from such an attack are unlikely, but the sharp teeth of a sea angler can disfigure the body of a careless person.

Favorite food

As previously mentioned, anglers are predators, preferring to feed on other deep-sea inhabitants of the seas. Monkfish's favorite treats include:

Cod.
Flounder.
Small stingrays.
Eels.
Cuttlefish.
Squid.
Crustaceans.

Sometimes mackerel or herring become victims of predators, this happens if a hungry angler rises closer to the surface.

Reproduction

Angler fish is amazing in almost everything. For example, the process of reproduction is very unusual for both marine life and wildlife in general. When the partners find each other, the male clings to the belly of his chosen one and tightly adheres to her, the fish seem to become a single organism. Gradually, the process goes even further - the fish have a common skin, blood vessels, and certain organs of the male - fins and eyes - atrophy as unnecessary. It is precisely because of this feature that researchers have not been able tomanaged to find a male anglerfish and describe it.

Only the gills, heart and genitals continue to function in males.

Interesting facts

After getting acquainted with the description of the anglerfish and the peculiarities of its lifestyle, we offer you to learn some interesting facts about this creepy fish:

The rods of some deep-sea anglers are clearly divided into rod, line and bait, becoming almost an exact copy of fishing tackle.
Some types of anglerfish are considered genuine delicacies. For example, the tender meat of the monk fish or the liver of the goose fish are the dishes that real gourmets dream of trying. Monkfish are loved in France, where soups and main dishes are prepared from its tail.
A very hungry representative of anglers can even catch a waterfowl, but the hunt will be his last - choking on fluff and feathers, the fish will die.
Male and female are very different in size. So, for a female about 60 cm long, the male will be no more than 6 cm. Therefore, males parasitize on their “girlfriends”, becoming part of a single whole.

This is the anglerfish - an unusual creation of nature, an inhabitant of the depths and a striking predator, using a trick that is not characteristic of other representatives of the fauna. Thanks to its tasty white meat, almost devoid of bones, the anglerfish is a fish of commercial importance.