Double angler

Double angler
Diceratias bispinosus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Suborder: Ceratioidei
Family: Diceratiidae
Regan & Trewavas, 1932
Genera

See text

Synonyms
  • Aeschynichthyidae Golvan, 1962

Double anglers or doublespine seadevils comprise the family Diceratiidae, being a small and little known family of rarely encountered marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes. The two genera and seven species of this family are found in the deeper waters of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are distinguished from other deep sea anglerfishes by the possession of a second bioluminescent cephalic spine. The fishes in this family were known only from metamorphosed females and the males were not described until 1983.