Antennarius is a genus of anglerfish belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The fishes in this genus are found in warmer parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Antennarius was first proposed as a genus in 1816 by the French naturalist François Marie Daudin with Lophius chironectes being designated as its type species in 1856 by Pieter Bleeker. Lophius chironectes was a binomial authored twice, once by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1798 and again by Pierre André Latreille in 1804, it is not clear which is the type species of this genus. Catalog of Fishes lists Latreille's name as a synonym of A. pictus and states that this taxon is probably the correct type species. Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Antennariinae within the family Antennariidae. However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Antennariidae, classifying the family within the suborder Antennarioidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.

Etymology

Antennarius suffixes -ius to antenna, an allusion to first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle on the snout used as a lure to attract prey.

Species

Antennarius contains the following recognised valid species:

Characteristics

Antennarius frogfishes have a slightly compressed rather globose body. The head has no spines on it, the eyes are located on the sides of the head and there is a large upwardly pointing mouth with numerous small teeth. The illicium has a distinct esca, or lure, and if there are spinule these are either at the base or along the front edge. The third dorsal spine is movable and is not embedded in the skin. These is a small round gill opening, to the rear and underneath the base of the pectoral fin, these are limb-like with a joint which resembles an elbow and the base is broadly joined to the body. They have a caudal peduncle but this is not connected to the dorsal and anal fin. The pelvic fins are short, with 5 fin rays, 4 simple and one branched. The rough skin on the bodyhas a covering ov closely set bifurcated spinules. The largest species in the genus is Commerson's frogfish (A. commerson) which has a maximum published total length 45 cm, while the smallest is Randall's frogfish (A. randalli) with a maximum standard length of 8 cm.

Distribution and habitat

Antennarius frogfishes are cosmopolitan in coastal waters in tropical and subtropical oceans, although they are most diverse in the Indo-West Pacific region. One species, A. biocellatus, is often found in brackish, or even fresh, waters but they are mostly marine, largely in shallow water and are found on a variety of substrates.