A benthic fish, that’s to say one that lives on the seabed, the common anglerfish is an opportunistic fish that uses camouflage to disappear from the sight of its prey, and which waves a lure to attract them.
There is a total of seven species in France but the two most commonly found at our fishmonger’s are the common anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) and the blackbellied angler (Lophius budegassa).
Where can you find them?
The common anglerfish can be found from the north of Norway down to the coast of West Africa, and also in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. They live at depths of between 20 and 1,000 metres.
They live over loose seabeds, and also over rocky substrates very close to the coast, but have already been caught at a depth of 1,800 metres.
How can you recognise them?
- The anglerfish has a very peculiar shape: its head is flattened, and much wider than the rest of its body which is quite round.
- Gifted for camouflage, the anglerfish is usually a light brown colour with darker areas, and this may vary depending on the surroundings.
- It has wide pectoral fins.
- The dorsal fin’s first spine located close to the eyes has a bifid skin flap which serves as a lure to attract its prey. This is why one of its names is “anglerfish”.
- Its smooth skin without scales does however have appendages that enhance the fish’s potential for camouflage.
- The anglerfish’s jaw can stretch so it can better catch its food, which makes it a formidable stalking predator. Its teeth are pointed and face backwards, to hold back the prey that it sucks in.
- The adult anglerfish can be anywhere between 70 and 200 cm long for a weight of about 40 kg. The females are bigger than the males.
What is distinctive about them?
One of the anglerfish’s characteristics is that they produce eggs that agglomerate in the form of a gelatinous ribbon. This ribbon can be more than 10 metres long, and comprises several million eggs. This sheet drifts around until the eggs hatch. The larvae live a pelagic life for several years before going down to live on the seabed when they reach a length of 5 to 6 cm.
Anglerfish have a lifespan of about 25 years (21 for the males). Their slow growth goes with a late sexual maturity when the fish reach a length of 70 cm. These characteristics make them vulnerable to overfishing, all the more so as the juveniles are sometimes caught before they have even had the time to reproduce.
They have a very slow breathing rate (1 to 2 minutes between each expiration) which gives them a very great resistance to emersion.
The anglerfish’s commercial name is monkfish. It is a much sought-after fish whose tail and cheeks are eaten. It has a high commercial value. At the fishmonger’s it is displayed without its head. They are caught by trawling.
