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Sea devils are a family, Ceratiidae, of deep-sea anglerfishes.

The scientific name is from Greek keras meaning "horn", and refers to the bioluminescent lure that project's from the fish's forehead.

They are among the most widespread of the anglerfishes, being found in all oceans, from tropical to Antarctic. They are large, elongate anglerfishes: females of the largest species, Krøyer's deep sea angler fish, Ceratias holboelli, reach 1.2 m in length. The males, by contrast, are dwarfed, reaching 14 cm. As in other anglerfishes, males spend much of their lives parasitically attached to the females, but they have a free-living adolescent stage in which they are very small (at most 1.3 cm), and have sharp, beak-like, toothless jaws.

Species

• Genus Ceratias
• Krøyer's deep sea angler fish, Ceratias holboelli Krøyer, 1845.
• Ceratias tentaculatus (Norman, 1930).
• Ceratias uranoscopus Murray, 1877.
• Genus Cryptopsaras
• Triplewart seadevil, Cryptopsaras couesii Gill, 1883.

References