Fanfin

Caulophryne sp.

The fan -finned fishes ( Caulophrynidae ) are a family of deep-sea angler fish ( Ceratioidei ). They live in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean in the deep sea.

Features

The fish have a round or oval body and have greatly elongated dorsal and anal fin rays. The four species of the genus Caulophryne have light organs, 14-22 dorsal and 12-19 anal-fin rays. Robia legula lack the light organs and the number of dorsal and anal fin rays is six or five. The caudal fin of all kinds has eight fin rays. Pelvic fins are present only in the larvae, in adult animals they are missing. Females are 14 to 20 cm long. The dwarf males remain smaller than 1.5 cm. They live as parasites, grown on the females.

Species

• Genus Caulophryne Caulophryne jordani Goode & Bean, 1896.
• Caulophryne pelagica ( Brauer, 1902).
• Caulophryne Pietschi Balushkin & Fedorov, 1985.
• Caulophryne polynema Regan, 1930.

• Robia legula Pietsch, 1979.