Fig. 498.—Deep-sea Angler, Ceratias holbolli Kröyer. Greenland.
Fig. 499.—Caulophryne jordani Goode & Bean. Gulf Stream. Family Ceratiidæ.
"The bathybial sea-devils are degraded forms of Lophius; they descend to the greatest depths of the ocean. Their bones are of an extremely light and thin texture, and frequently other parts of their organization, their integuments, muscles, and intestines are equally loose in texture when the specimens are brought to the surface. In their habits they probably do not differ in any degree from their surface representative, Lophius. The number of the dorsal spines is always reduced, and at the end of the series of these species only one spine remains, with a simple, very small lamella at the extremity (Melanocetus johnsonii, Melanocetus murrayi). In other forms sometimes a second cephalic spine, sometimes a spine on the back of the trunk, is preserved. The first cephalic spine always retains the original function of a lure for other marine creatures, but to render it more effective a special luminous organ is sometimes developed in connection with the filaments with which its extremity is provided (Ceratias bispinosus, Oneirodes eschrichtii). So far as known at present these complicated tentacles attain to the highest degree of development in Himantolophus and Ægæonichthys. In other species very peculiar dermal appendages are developed, either accompanying the spine on the back or replacing it. They may be paired or form a group of three, are pear-shaped, covered with common skin, and perforated at the top, a delicate tentacle sometimes issuing from the foramen."
Of the fifteen or twenty species of Ceratiidæ described, none are common and all are rare catches of the deep-sea dredge. Caulophryne jordani is remarkable for its large fins and the luminous filaments, Linophryne lucifer for its large head, and Corynolophus reinhardti (Fig. 143, Vol. I) for its luminous fishing-bulb.
Fig. 500.—Sargassum-fish, Pterophryne tumida (Osbeck). Florida. Family Antennariidæ.
The Frogfishes: Antennariidæ.—The frogfishes, Antennariidæ, belong to the tropical seas and rarely descend far below the surface. Most of them abound about sand-banks or coral reefs, especially along the shores of the East and West Indies, where they creep along the rocks like toads. Some are pelagic, drifting about in floating masses of seaweed. All are fantastic in form and color, usually closely imitating the objects about them. The body is compressed, the mouth nearly vertical, and the skin either prickly or provided with fleshy slips.
The species of Pterophryne live in the open sea, drifting with the currents in masses of sargassum. Two species, Pterophryne tumida and Pterophryne gibba, are found in the West Indies and Gulf Stream. Two others very similar, Pterophryne histrio and Pterophryne ranina, live in the East Indies and drift in the Kuro Shiwo of Japan. All these are light olive-brown with fantastic black markings.