Lophiidae
by J. H. Caruso
Head and body depressed. Mouth wide and cavernous; jaws with strong, slender depressible, recurved teeth; lower jaw projecting well beyond upper. Skin loose, thin and scaleless. Lateral margins of head, lower jaw and body bearing numerous fleshy tendrils. Dorsal surface of head with numerous prominent bony spines. Spinous dorsal fin divided into cephalic and post-cephalic portions: pectoral fin base elongated, forming pseudobrachium. Gill opening below pectoral fin base.
Benthic from shoreline to 1,560 m. Feed on nekton, mainly fishes. Pelagic egg-masses and larvae.
Genera 4; in Clofnam area 1.
Recent revisions: Le Danois (1973, 1974), Caruso (1977, 1981, 1983, 1985).