Antennarius is a genus of anglerfish belonging to the family Antennariidae, the . The fishes in this genus are found in warmer parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Taxonomy
Antennarius was first proposed as a genus in 1816 by the French
naturalist François Marie Daudin with
Lophius chironectes being designated as its
type species in 1856 by
Pieter Bleeker.
[ Lophius chironectes was a binomial authored twice, once by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1798 and again by Pierre André Latreille in 1804, it is not clear which is the type species of this genus. Catalog of Fishes lists Latreille's name as a synonym of Painted frogfish and states that this taxon is probably the correct type species.][ Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Antennariinae within the family Antennariidae.]
Etymology
Antennarius suffixes -ius to antenna, an allusion to first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle on the snout used as a lure to attract prey.
Species
Antennarius contains the following recognised valid species:|
|
| Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomons, the Philippines and Taiwan. |
| Red Sea and South Africa to Panama, north to southern Japan and the Hawaiian Islands, south to the Lord Howe and the Society islands |
| East Africa, India, and Malaysia to the Moluccas, north to Taiwan, south to northern Australia. |
| East Africa, Gulf of Aden, and Seychelles to southeast India and Sri Lanka, north to the Gulf of Oman. |
| Maldives and Mauritius to Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. |
| Bermuda to the Bahamas, throughout the Caribbean, and along the coast of Central America to Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil as far south as Salvador. Antilles |
| Senegal to Congo |
| Bahamas, off Belize, Colombia, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Antigua, Tortugas and off the Atlantic coast of Florida. |
| Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian and Society islands. |
| Japan,Taiwan, Philippines, Moluccas, Fiji, Marshall Islands and Easter Island. |
| Western Atlantic. Off the coast of New Jersey (USA), Bermuda, Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico and throughout the island groups of the Caribbean to the southernmost coast of Brazil. |
| African coast, from Senegal to Southwest Africa, with a single record from St. Helena. Red Sea and the East African coast to the Society and Hawaiian islands, north to Japan, south to Australia and New Zealand. |
The only known fossil species is Antennarius monodi Carnevale & Pietsch, 2006 from the latest Miocene (Messinian) of Algeria.
Characteristics
Antennarius frogfishes have a slightly compressed rather globose body. The head has no spines on it, the eyes are located on the sides of the head and there is a large upwardly pointing mouth with numerous small teeth. The illicium has a distinct esca, or lure, and if there are spinule these are either at the base or along the front edge. The third dorsal spine is movable and is not embedded in the skin. These is a small round gill opening, to the rear and underneath the base of the pectoral fin, these are limb-like with a joint which resembles an elbow and the base is broadly joined to the body. They have a caudal peduncle but this is not connected to the dorsal fin and anal fin. The are short, with 5 fin rays, 4 simple and one branched. The rough skin on the bodyhas a covering ov closely set bifurcated spinules.[
]
Distribution and habitat
Antennarius frogfishes are cosmopolitan in coastal waters in tropical and subtropical oceans, although they are most diverse in the Indo-West Pacific region.[ One species, A. biocellatus, is often found in brackish, or even fresh, waters but they are mostly marine, largely in shallow water and are found on a variety of substrates.]
