Fish of the Lophius (monkfishes) genus of the Lophiidae (goosefishes) family of the Lophioidei suborder of the Lophiiformes (anglerfishes) order of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Angler. Photo by © Pedro Niny Duarte(c)ImagDOP. fishbase.org)
Angler (Lophius piscatorius) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It inhabits the depths of 20-1,000 meters. It prefers to swim near a sandy, silty, less often rocky bottom. The maximum recorded length is 200 cm; specimens about 100 cm long are more common. The maximum weight is 57.7 kg. It feeds on fish. It chases its prey, partially buried in the ground, waiting for it, drawing its attention with a mobile outgrowth on its head resembling a worm.
(Angler. Photo © animalworld.com.ua)
It’s a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea.
Names of angler (Lophius piscatorius) in other languages as follows:
Peshkatari (Albanian), Морски дявол (Morski djavol) (Bulgarian), Európai horgászhal (Hungarian), Zeeduivel (Dutch), Πεσκαντρίτσα (Pescandritsa) (Greek), Rape ((Spanish), Rana pescatrice (Italian), Seeteufel (German), Żabnica (Polish), Peixe-pescador (Portuguese), Европейский удильщик (Evropejskij udiljshchik) (Russian), Grdoba, Grdobina mrkulja (Serbian, Croatian), Morska spaka, Morska žaba (Slovenian), Fener balığı (Turkish), Baudroie commune (French), Ďas mořský (Czech).