CAULOPHRYNIDAE

Mincarone, Michael Maia, Afonso, Gabriel Vinícius Felix, Di Dario, Fabio, Eduardo, Leandro Nolé, Frédou, Thierry, Lucena-Frédou, Flávia, Bertrand, Arnaud & Pietsch, Theodore Wells, 2021, Deep-sea anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) from off northeastern Brazil, with remarks on the ceratioids reported from the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, Neotropical Ichthyology 19 (2), pp. 1-28 : 16

CAULOPHRYNIDAE

Females of the Caulophrynidae are distinguished by having a short, deep body, more or less globular; mouth large, lower jaw usually extending posteriorly beyond the base of the pectoral-fin lobe; jaw teeth unusually large; epibranchial and ceratobranchial teeth absent; illicium without a bulbous bacteria-filled light organ, the pterygiophore of the illicium fully embedded beneath skin of head; skin smooth and naked, spines or dermal denticles absent; lateral-line structures unusually well-developed, sense organs at the tips of cutaneous papillae; dorsal- and anal-fin rays apparently free, not interconnected by membrane, and usually longer than 60% SL; and 8 caudal-fin rays. Larvae of the Caulophrynidae are also distinguished in the Ceratioidei by the presence of pelvic fins, which are absent at all stages in other families of the suborder. Males are probably facultative parasites on females (Pietsch, 2009).