European angler fish: description and types of monkfish. Angler fish - an amazing creature of nature Message about monkfish

Anglerfish belongs to the suborder Ceratioidei, order Lophiiformes, which includes more than 100 species. It lives in the ocean at depths of 1.5 to 3 km. Its body is spherical, flattened on the sides. The head is huge, occupying more than half of the total length. The mouth is terrifying, with long sharp

teeth. The bare skin is dark in color; spines and plaques are characteristic only of some species. The “fishing rod” that gives the order its name is a modified first ray of the fin located on the back. Only females have it.

It is believed that the angler fish has an ugly shape with bulging eyes. The photo shows it after being raised from the depths. In her typical environment, she looks completely different. And we are assessing the consequences of the huge pressure difference (250 atmospheres) in the water column and on the surface.

The deep-sea anglerfish is an amazing creature. Females are hundreds of times larger than males. The females that were caught and removed from sea water turned out to range from 5 to 100 cm in length, and the males - from 1.6 to 5 cm. This is one of the manifestations of the second is illicium, in common parlance - the fishing rod of females. It is worth noting that it ends glowing due to

bioluminescent bacteria "bait". The angler fish is able to “turn it on and off” by feeding a peculiar gland with blood. The length of the illicium varies among different species. In some, it can lengthen and shorten, luring the prey directly into the hunter's mouth.

The diet of these fish is also amazing. Females eat crustaceans, and occasionally mollusks. Their stomach can increase in size several times. There are cases when they swallowed victims much larger than themselves. Such greed led to death, because... the female was choking on her “dinner”, but could not release it from herself, her long teeth were holding it in. Males, given their small size, also have setaceous jaws.

The angler fish reproduces in the spring and summer. Females lay small eggs, and males fertilize them. From the depths, the eggs float to the surface layer (up to 200 m), where there is more opportunity to feed. This is where the larvae appear. By the time of metamorphosis, the grown juveniles descend to a depth of 1 km. After the transformation, the angler fish will go to even greater depths, where it will reach sexual maturity and live its characteristic life.

Anglerfish is one of the manifestations of diversity natural world. It is no coincidence that this way of existence, which seems wonderful to us, has been developed over centuries. Much remains unknown. Perhaps someday an explanation will be found.

Today we are talking about angler fish. And all because news appeared that it was first filmed in natural environment habitat at a depth of 600 meters using special underwater equipment!

Angler fish are a completely unusual order of fish.
They live deep, deep in the water and look rather unattractive. They have a very large flattened head, and the upper jaw can extend! But the most interesting thing is how the angler fish hunts. There is a decoy on his back - once one feather from his dorsal fin separated from the others and turned into a “fishing rod”, at the end of which a small “flashlight” formed.

In fact, it is a gland that looks like a transparent sac, inside of which there are bacteria. They may or may not glow, depending on the anglerfish itself, which can control the bacteria by dilating or constricting blood vessels. If the vessels expand, more oxygen enters the “flashlight”, it shines brightly, and if they narrow, its light disappears. And this “flashlight” in complete darkness lures prey to the anglerfish. As soon as a fish or some other animal approaches the “flashlight,” the angler opens its mouth and sucks in the fish with lightning speed.

Anglerfish have the fastest cast of any animal! Here there is slow motion and you can see how quickly he eats what he managed to lure - once and done.

And its stomach can stretch so that a fish the size of an anglerfish can fit inside it.
All of these photos show a female anglerfish, only she has a "fishing rod". But this photo is interesting because both the female and the male are immediately visible in it. There he is - that little fish on the right.

And here is the same video in which he was first filmed in his own habitat. The angler fish here is small, or rather small - 9 cm.

I wonder if the children will notice a curious detail about this fish?
Look, his tooth fell out! In the video they joke that it is unclear whether a new one will grow or not, but one thing is clear: there are no tooth fairies in the ocean!

Monkfish - predatory fish order of anglerfish. This species received the name “monkfish” because of its very unattractive appearance. The fish is edible. The meat is white, dense, boneless. Monkfish is especially popular in France.

Whatever they call them - and monkfish, And sea scorpions, and angler fish, and european anglerfish. However, there are also several varieties of this miracle fish. And in terms of originality of appearance, each of the types is not inferior to each other. People have never seen devils, but the sea monsters that have risen from the depths resemble creatures from the underworld.

It is worth saying that in aquatic fauna There is also another monkfish - a mollusk, but now we will talk about a representative of ray-finned fish.

In fact, it's simple sea fish- a predator fish with an amazing, unlike anything else appearance. These fish belong to the ray-finned fish, to the order Anglerfishes, to the family Anglerfishes, to the genus Anglerfishes. Now at water depths There are two species of monkfish found on the earth.

Appearance

When you first look at this creature, a remarkable organ immediately catches your eye - the “fishing rod”. The modified fin really resembles a fishing rod with a luminous float. This ugly monster, sometimes reaching up to two meters in length and 30-40 kilograms, can itself regulate the glow of its float. But there is nothing supernatural about this. In fact, the float is a kind of skin formation, in the folds of which amazing bacteria live. In the presence of oxygen, which they draw from the blood of the anglerfish, they glow. But if the monkfish just had lunch and lay down to take a nap, he does not need a glowing flashlight, and it blocks the access of blood to the fin-fishing rod, and the float goes out until the start of a new hunt.

All appearance the monkfish marks him out as an inhabitant of the deep sea. Elongated body, with an unnatural big head, everything is covered with some kind of growths, vaguely reminiscent of either algae, or tree bark, or some kind of twigs and snags.

The body length of the monkfish is about 2 meters, and the animal weighs almost 20 kilograms. The body has a slightly flattened shape. In general, the anglerfish is not a very pleasant-looking fish. It is all covered with some kind of leathery growths that look similar to driftwood and algae. The head is disproportionately large, the monkfish's mouth and mouth are huge and unpleasant.

Habitat

The habitat of this fish is considered to be Atlantic Ocean. The anglerfish is found off the coast of Europe, off the coast of Iceland. In addition, monkfish were found in the waters Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Sea and the Barents Sea.

The depth at which these fish usually live is from 50 to 200 meters. Most often they are found at the very bottom, because there is nothing more pleasant for monkfish than just lying quietly on sand or silt. But it is only at first glance that the angler fish is idle. In fact, this is one of the ways of hunting. The animal freezes, waiting for its prey. And when it swims by, it grabs it and eats it.

Nutrition

Mainly, other, usually smaller, fish serve as food for these fish. The monkfish menu consists of Katrans, Silversides, Kalkans, Stingrays and others.

In general, the monkfish is incredibly voracious and therefore boldly rushes even at a seemingly obviously unattainable goal. And in “hungry” moments the sufferer almost complete absence In sight, a large anglerfish rises to the upper layers of water from the depths and at such moments it is capable of attacking scuba divers. You can meet such an inhabitant of the deep sea just at the end of summer, after a grueling hungry spawning, the “devils” go to shallow water, where they eat intensively until the fall, after which they go to wintering in greater depths.

However, compared to sharks, barracudas and octopuses, true sea devils or anglerfish do not pose an immediate danger to humans. Be that as it may, their terrible teeth can disfigure the hand of an unwary fisherman for life. However, the monkfish does much more damage not to humans, but to others commercial species fish Thus, there are legends among fishermen that, having fallen into a fishing net, he ate the fish that got there while he was there.

Reproduction

The male and female anglerfish are so different in appearance and size that until some time experts classified them as different classes. Monkfish breeding is as special as its appearance and the method of hunting.

The male anglerfish is several times smaller in size than the female. To fertilize the eggs, he needs to find his chosen one and not lose sight of her. To do this, males simply bite into the female’s body. The structure of the teeth does not allow them to free themselves, and they do not want to.

Over time, the female and male grow together, forming a single organism with common body. Some of the “husband’s” organs and systems atrophy. He no longer needs eyes, fins, or a stomach. Nutrients come through the blood vessels from the “wife’s” body. The male has only right moment fertilize the eggs.

They are usually spawned by the female in the spring. Fertility anglerfish quite high. On average, a female lays up to 1 million eggs. This occurs at depth and looks like a long (up to 10 m) and wide (up to 0.5 m) ribbon. The female can carry several “husbands” on her body so that they fertilize a large number of eggs at the right time.

It should be noted that a female monkfish can simultaneously lay a clutch of about three million eggs. After some time, the eggs are released and travel on their own. sea waters. Turning into larvae, they live closer to the surface of the water for up to four months, and only when they reach a length of 6-8 cm do they sink to the bottom.

Monkfish are not able to compare the feeling of hunger with the size of their prey. There is evidence of an angler catching a fish larger than itself, but being unable to release it due to the structure of its teeth. It happens that a monkfish catches a waterfowl and choke on its feathers, which leads to its death.

Monkfish in cooking

Monkfish is suitable both for frying in pieces and for frying in layers on the grill, or cut into cubes and placed on skewers on the grill. Monkfish is boiled and stewed. The fish is especially popular in France, where the meat of its tail is prepared in many ways, for example with blackcurrant jam or sweet potato, and the head of the devil is used for rich, fatty, multi-spiced soup.

Monkfish meat is highly prized in Japan. Not only meat is eaten, but also liver, fins, skin and stomach.

The Chinese prefer to cook monkfish in a wok. Fillet is fried in oil with rice vinegar and soy sauce, sprinkle with ginger and chili. Then the wok is removed from the heat, the fish is covered with coriander and green onions, stir, serve with rice. Everyone who has tried this dish finds it slightly smoky. It's all a play on spices and the characteristics of the wok. The fish turns out tender and very juicy thanks to quick frying.

In America, monkfish is cooked mainly on the grill. The fish is cut into pieces along with the skin and vertebral bone. Marinate with salt olive oil and rosemary. The oil envelops the pieces of fish and prevents them from drying out. Monkfish is served with grilled vegetables, seasoned lemon juice and olive oil.

In America, they prepare carrot puree with monkfish fillet meatballs. The carrots are boiled until soft, then simmered in heavy cream, chopped with the addition of coriander and salt. The monkfish fillet is crushed, mixed with salt and spices, and formed into meatballs the size of walnut, boil them for a couple. The puree is served in deep plates, with a dozen meatballs placed in each and sprinkled with fresh herbs.

In Korea they make it from monkfish national dish Heh and they cook a sweet and spicy soup, to which they add a lot of vegetables and monkfish (fillet) fried in batter. Monkfish meat, seasoned with hot spices, is placed in rice dough(pancakes) and fried in large quantities oils Fish is served with soy sauce.

In gourmet restaurants in a number of countries you can find dishes where monkfish is presented in the following form. The fish is fried and served, poured over sweet and sour sauce, serve poached fish with lemon and lemon zest, as well as poached fish served with parsley or spinach sauce with cheese. Fry fish with chili pepper, smoked paprika and ginger, simmer white wine, cream sauce, milk, baked with tomatoes, fried, strung on rosemary sprigs.

Monkfish is baked in the form of a roll. The fillet is laid out in a layer on film, the filling is placed on top, for example broccoli, and rolled up. The ends of the film are tied, the roll in this form is lowered into water and the fish is boiled for 10 minutes at a temperature not exceeding 86°C. With this method, the fillet remains soft and juicy, but holds its shape perfectly. Served with fish cream sauce and fried potato medallions.

Monkfish are not often available for free sale, because... already mentioned above, the fish is under state protection and its catch is limited. Unfrozen monkfish can be found in large hypermarkets at a very high price during a certain season or on the market from private sellers (this is in Europe and America). The rest of the time, if fish is sold, it is frozen, but its price is just as high - 20 euros per 1 kg.

There are probably very few people who would not know about the existence of this mysterious and terrifying species sea creatures called "monkfish". But many people think that this is fairy creature, just an idea.

Actually this is not true. The photo shows the monkfish fish in all its splendor. It really exists, but great depth and in the darkness of the sea, probably because of her ugly appearance, which is why she has such a name, the scientists tried their best.

However, under this name, there already exists an inhabitant of the aquatic expanses, this is a mollusk. We will talk about it another time. Today our hero is a representative of ray-finned fish from the order Anglerfishes.

Appearance Features

When you look at a monkfish, you immediately notice the presence of a growth on the head with a luminous tip in front of the ugly mouth, the so-called “fishing rod” for their shaped similarity.

With its help, the angler lures the prey and catches it. Hence the common name - anglerfish.

Monkfish fish reaches a length of up to 2 meters and weighs approximately 20 kg. The body shape of the anglerfish is slightly flattened. As a matter of fact, he is far from handsome in appearance and looks, to put it mildly, creepy.

His body is covered with ugly skin growths that resemble driftwood and algae. His head is too large in relation to his body and is unpleasant, as is his mouth. The scaleless skin is a dark spotted brown color with a green or red tint; on the abdomen it is slightly lighter, closer to white.

A wide mouth with sharp, huge teeth pointing inward and perioral folds that constantly move for camouflage. The eyes are small, the visual ability is underdeveloped, as is the function of smell. This is such a cute monkfish.

Home of the anglerfish

The birthplace of European and American type Anglerfish - Atlantic Ocean. However, it was noticeable off the European coast, and off the Icelandic coast, and even in the Baltic, Black, North and Barents Seas.

The Far Eastern species of anglerfish has taken root well along the Japanese and Korean coasts, in the Okhotsk, Yellow, and South China seas.

Living conditions and character of the anglerfish in its native environment

Sea devils live in underwater depths from 50 to 200 m, closer to the very bottom, its native element, where it can lie in complete peace on a sandy or muddy bed, or among stones.

But don’t think that he is lying inactive. This is his way of hunting for prey. The anglerfish lies motionless and waits. And the moment the prey swims nearby, it instantly pounces on it and absorbs it.

And it happens that with the help of fins, it jumps and begins to chase the victim and successfully overtakes it. Anglers are predatory fish.

Anglerfish food

Basically, the diet of monkfish fish consists of smaller fish: Katrans, silversides, kakanas, stingrays, etc. Lured by the light of the anglerfish, the small fish fall straight into its mouth.

Monkfish will not disdain crustacean mollusks. During special periods, Zhora can replenish its menu with herring or mackerel and even waterfowl.

Features of procreation

Male anglerfish are much smaller in size. To fertilize eggs, they need to find a mate and not miss her, so they literally bite into her forever.

After some time, they grow into each other, forming a single whole, as a result of which part of the male’s organs dies. Nutrients transmitted by blood from the female.

The angler-husband only needs to fertilize the eggs at a certain point.

During the sexually mature period, to procreate, female anglerfish descend to depths of almost 2000 m to lay eggs. A female anglerfish can lay a clutch of approximately 3 million eggs, which forms a wide ribbon of about 10 m with cells in the form of hexagons (honeycombs).

After some time, these so-called honeycombs are destroyed. As a result, the eggs become free and are carried in all directions by currents.

A few days later, tiny larvae are born from the eggs, and after 4 months they are already fry. The fry, 6 cm long, independently sink to the bottom of shallow water.

Anglerfish and people

Hunting for people is not a vital necessity for anglers; it is not his style. But a person can actually get wounded if he gets stuck on a monkfish thorn.

However, to the most annoying visitors, he can show his sharp teeth in practice, dashingly grabbing the curious.

In America and some European countries In the restaurant business, anglerfish meat is used as a delicacy that tastes like lobster. In Asian countries, monkfish is used in culinary affairs. Because of this, there is a real hunt for such a creepy-looking fish.

Curious facts

Anglerfish, when hungry, are able to catch prey large sizes than usual. And because of the structure of their teeth, they cannot release it back, and in the end they may even die.

Sea devils are a group of angler fish. They live at great depths, can withstand enormous pressure and have an extremely unattractive appearance.

But you knew, for example, how anglerfish reproduce. For egg fertilization to occur, two different fish— the male and female monkfish must grow together into one organism.

When a male anglerfish finds a suitable mate, it digs into the female’s stomach and tightly attaches itself to her. Over time, the two fish merge into single being with common skin, common blood vessels, etc. At the same time, some organs of the male atrophy - eyes, fins, etc.

It was precisely because sea devils live most of their lives in the form of such a monster creature that scientists at first could not find male anglerfish in nature - they only came across females. It turned out that the males (or rather, what was left of them) were “hiding” inside.

Let's find out more about this fish...

Photo 2.

Are there many people in Russia who can boast that they ate the devil? Apparently, there are no such people at all. And this pleasure is quite accessible to the average European. The point is that monkfish although disgusting to look at, but delicious fish. It also lives off our coasts, including in the Barents and even the Black Sea, but here no one specifically catches it.

Monkfish, or European anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius), is a large fish up to one and a half meters long, two-thirds of which is on the head, and weighs up to 20 kilograms. The mouth is outrageously large and lined with a palisade of sharp teeth. The bare skin with a fringe of leathery lobes gives the fish an extremely disgusting appearance. On the head there is a fishing rod - the first ray of the dorsal fin moved forward, from which hangs an appetizing “bait” - a small leathery bulb. All day long the devil lies motionless on the bottom and patiently waits for some fish to be tempted by his bait. Then, without hesitation, it opens its mouth and swallows the prey.

Photo 3.

European monkfish belongs to the family of angler fish. They live at a depth of 50-200 meters and are considered fairly common inhabitants. coastal waters. Only recently has it become known that their close relatives live in the depths of the ocean. They were called deep-sea anglers. About 120 species are now known. These amazing creatures belong to small or very small fish. Females range in length from 5-10 to 20-40 centimeters, only the ciracy grows up to a meter, and males are dwarfs measuring 14-22 millimeters.

Only females have a fishing rod. Often this gear is clearly divided into a rod, a fishing line and a luminous bait suspended at its end. For each type of angler, the bait has a shape and size unique to these fish and emits light rays of a strictly defined color. The bait is a bag filled with mucus in which glowing bacteria live. In order to emit light, bacteria need oxygen. When the anglerfish has had lunch and is busy digesting food, it no longer needs light. It can attract attention to the anglerfish large predator. Then the devil squeezes the blood vessels of the fishing line and temporarily extinguishes his flashlight.

Photo 4.

The rod, located above the fish's head, is directed upward and forward, and the bait dangles near the mouth. This is where gullible game is lured. Gigantaxis have a rod with a fishing line that is 4 times longer than the fish itself. This allows you to cast the bait far and, teasing the prey, lure it to its mouth, which is always ready to open. Each type of bait attracts a very specific game. This is confirmed by the fact that in the stomachs of some anglers there are constantly found fish that are rarely caught in deep-sea trawls and are considered very rare.

U deep sea anglerfish Everything is unusual, especially reproduction. Males and females are so different from each other that they were previously considered different types fish When the male becomes an adult, he goes in search of a female. At the grooms big eyes and an impressive olfactory organ that help locate the female. For a tiny fish, finding a bride is a difficult task. Nobody knows how much time they spend on this. It is not surprising that, having found a bride, the male immediately sinks his teeth into her.

Soon the male’s lips and tongue grow onto his wife’s body, and she takes her husband as her full dependent. Through the vessels grown into his body, the female supplies him with everything he needs. The male no longer needs the jaws, intestines and eyes, and they atrophy. In the male’s body, only the heart and gills continue to work, helping to supply oxygen to his body, and even the testes. During breeding, the female spawns eggs, and the male regularly waters them with milk.

Spawning takes place at great depths, but the eggs are lighter than water and float to its surface. Here they hatch into larvae. They feed intensely, grow quickly and gradually drown until they return to their homeland in their favorite depths.

Photo 6.

Some species of deep-sea anglerfish are considered edible. They are caught in the USA, Africa and East Asia. Especially popular in North America meat from the tail of an anglerfish, called Monkfish or Goosefish. It tastes like lobster meat. In Japan and Korea, goose fish liver is a delicacy.

White, dense, boneless and extremely tender meat of this fish can do honor to anyone. festive table. It is suitable for frying in pieces and opened in the shape of a butterfly, or for grilling, cut into cubes and placed on skewers, as well as for boiling and stewing. Monkfish is especially popular in France, where the meat from its tail is prepared in many ways, for example with boiled vegetables, and the head, if you can get it, is used for soup.

Photo 7.

Why is monkfish called "tail fish"
The fishermen quickly deal with the monster's head. All that remains of the fish is practically only an edible tail, which goes on sale without the skin. Therefore, monkfish is often called the “tail” fish, whose white, dense, boneless and extremely tender meat can do honor to any holiday table. Being a master of camouflage, the monkfish, with its dark, often spotted, top part body, almost invisible against the background of the bottom of small coastal reservoirs, among stones, pebbles and fucus. There he usually likes to lie, watching for prey. On both sides of the head, along the edges of the jaw and lips, fringed patches of skin hang down, moving in the water like algae. On the sides of the body there are wide fins, and on the back there are thin spines with a spherical thickening at the end, luring prey. This sea monster can reach 2 m with a weight of 30-40 kg. Smaller specimens usually go on sale. But even a monkfish of this size can swallow enough big fish. They say that in the belly of one monkfish, 65 cm long, a young cod, 58 cm long, was found. Monkfish is found in many seas, mainly in the Atlantic and the North Sea, up to Iceland.

Photo 8.

The monkfish is also called a “frog” because it can jump
Sometimes during a hunt, the monkfish moves in a very unusual way: it jumps along the bottom, pushing off pectoral fins. For this they called him “frog”.

Photo 9.

In one species of monkfish, the “fishing rod” is retracted into a special channel on the back. The fish regulates the glow of the bubble by narrowing or expanding the walls of the arteries. And in the bottom-dwelling Galatetauma, the “fishing rod” is generally located in the mouth. Another species uses glowing teeth as bait.

To hunt, the angler just needs to swim or rest quietly on the sand, from time to time opening his mouth and swallowing an overly curious fish. She has no chance to escape: the monkfish’s mouth sucks in water along with everything that swims nearby: mollusks, crustaceans, sometimes even stingrays and sharks. A very hungry anglerfish can catch a waterfowl. However, in this case, he often chokes on the feathers and dies.

Photo 10.

The monkfish does not know how to compare the size of its prey with the feeling of hunger. Ichthyologists have more than once observed cases when a predator caught and bit a large fish, much larger than itself, but could not let go due to the structural features of the teeth.

Anglerfish breed as unusually as they hunt. Males do not have “fishing rods” at all, and they themselves are very tiny. While females often reach two meters in length, males rarely exceed 5 millimeters. Each female carries several males: they dig into her, grow together and gradually turn into genitals.

Hungry sea devils are dangerous for scuba divers. They have very poor eyesight, which is compensated by their courage and gluttony, so it is better to stay as far away from a hungry anglerfish as possible.

Photo 11.

However, where does this come from? big name? According to one version, this fish received it for its, to put it mildly, extravagant appearance, even against the generally bright and diverse background of the inhabitants of the depths of the sea. A flat body, a huge ugly head with a huge mouth, in some species making up two-thirds of the total length, crowned with a palisade of sharp teeth, evokes a feeling of horror. These teeth are capable of turning prey into a mess of torn tissue and bones.

Photo 12.

In general, the monkfish is incredibly voracious and therefore boldly rushes even at a seemingly obviously unattainable goal. And in “hungry” moments, a large anglerfish, suffering from an almost complete lack of vision, rises to the upper layers of water from the depths and at such moments it is capable of attacking scuba divers.

You can meet such an inhabitant of the deep sea just at the end of summer, after a grueling hungry spawning, the “devils” go to shallow water, where they eat intensively until the fall, after which they go to wintering in greater depths.

However, compared to sharks, barracudas and octopuses, true sea devils or anglerfish do not pose an immediate danger to humans. Be that as it may, their terrible teeth can disfigure the hand of an unwary fisherman for life. However, the monkfish causes much more damage not to humans, but to other commercial fish species. Thus, there are legends among fishermen that, having fallen into a fishing net, he ate the fish that got there while he was there.

Photo 13.