Angler
|
|
- This article is about the fish. For the person who engages in the activity of angling, see Fisherman
1911_Lophius_piscatorius.png
The angler, also sometimes called fishing-frog, frog-fish, or sea-devil (Lophius piscatorius), is a fish well known off the coasts of Great Britain and much of Europe.
The grotesque shape of the fish's body and its unusual habits have attracted the attention of naturalists of all ages. To North Sea fishermen this fish is known as the "monk," a name which more properly belongs to Rhina squatina, a fish allied to the skates.
| Contents |
External anatomy
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.
The pectoral and ventral 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.
Angling
The fish also has three long filaments along the middle of its head, which are, in fact, the detached and modified three first spines of the anterior dorsal fin. The filament most important to the angler is the first, which is the longest, terminates in a lappet, and is movable in every direction. The angler is believed to attract other fishes by means of its lure, and then to seize them with its enormous jaws. It is probable enough that smaller fishes are attracted in this way, but experiments have shown that the action of the jaws is automatic and depends on contact of the prey with the tentacle. Its stomach is distensible in an extraordinary degree, and not rarely fishes have been taken out quite as large and heavy as their destroyer.
Dimensions
Anglers grow to a length of more than 5 ft.; specimens of 3 ft. are common.
Lifecycle
The spawn of the angler is very remarkable. It consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3 ft. broad and 25 to 30 ft. in length. The eggs in this sheet are in a single layer, each in its own little cavity. The spawn is free in the sea. The larvae are free-swimming and have the pelvic fins elongated into filaments.
Distribution
The British species is found all round the coasts of Europe and western North America, but becomes scarce beyond 60° N. lat.; it occurs also on the coasts of the Cape of Good Hope. A second species (Lophius budegassa) inhabits the Mediterranean, and a third (L. setigerus) the coasts of China and Japan.ca:Rap