Ceratioidei

<p>Ceratioidei, the deep-sea anglerfishes or pelagic anglerfishes, is a <a href="/facts/Suborder/GKLJvIpt">suborder</a> of marine <a href="/facts/Actinopterygii/3PNaXXmJ">ray-finned fishes</a>, one of five suborders in the <a href="/facts/Order_(biology)/GKLJvIpt">order</a> <a href="/facts/Lophiiformes/oTpyBSjS">Lophiiformes</a>, the anglerfishes. These fishes are found in tropical and temperate seas throughout the world, living above the <a href="/facts/Pelagic_sediment/D286yP33">bottom</a> of the <a href="/facts/Deep-sea_fish/b79nGkHX">deep sea</a>, in the <a href="/facts/Pelagic_zone/D6heJr5f">pelagic zone</a>.
</p><p>The deep-sea anglerfishes exhibit extreme <a href="/facts/Sexual_dimorphism/nx9wulFy">sexual dimorphism</a>; the males are many times smaller than the females. To <a href="/facts/Reproduce/nNu0F5Dy">reproduce</a>, a male seeks out a female, using his sharp teeth-like denticles to clamp onto the female. The details of this <a href="/facts/Sexual_parasitism/eDyjNSmp">sexual parasitism</a> varies between the species; in a number of species the male permanently becomes part of the female, their <a href="/facts/Tissue_(biology)/H7CpML7A">tissues</a> fusing with each other. This is the only known natural example of a process called <a href="/facts/Parabiosis/FTXrna6S">parabiosis</a>. The <a href="/facts/Esca_(fish_anatomy)/oTpyBSjS">esca</a>, the defining feature of all anglerfish groups, are <a href="/facts/Bioluminescent/IlzgyV4E">bioluminescent</a> in the deep-sea anglerfishes, attracting prey in the vast darkness of the <a href="/facts/Bathypelagic_zone/xxkGTQ5b">bathypelagic zone</a> which they inhabit.
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Ceratioidei open-in-new

Ceratioidei