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A fanfin anglerfish
Caulophryne jordani Goode & Bean, 1896

A 55mm standard length (glossary) female fanfin anglerfish trawled during the NORFANZ expedition at a depth between the surface and 977m, south of Norfolk Island, May 2003 (NMNZ P.39763). Photo: K. Parkinson © NORFANZ. View larger image.

C.jordani has a rounded body and fan-like dorsal and anal fins. A long illicium (glossary) with branched filaments is present on the snout (the illicium is visible in the image as a white blur above the snout).

C.jordani is black to dark brown all over with the exception of the tip of the illicium.

This species is sexually dimorphic (glossary). Females reach a total length of 20cm, but males only grow to 1.6cm. Males have well developed sense organs that are used to find a female. When a male finds a female, he bites her and doesn't let go. His skin fuses with the female and he becomes a parasite on her.

Larvae and free-swimming males have pelvic fins. These fins are lost in females and parasitic males.

This species occurs in bathypelagic (glossary) and mesopelagic (glossary) waters worldwide.

The fish in the image was trawled using a non-closing trawl somewhere between the surface and 977m. Specimens have been collected in non-closing trawls that have sampled to 3000m. C.jordani has also been collected using closing trawls (more information) between 1235m and 1510m.

In Australia C.jordani is known from off the central New South Wales coast and in Australian territorial waters south of Norfolk Island.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

1. Nelson, J.S., 1994. Fishes of the World, third edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pp: 600.
2. Norman, M. 2003. Beasts from the Deep. Australian Science. September:18-22.
3. Pietsch, T. W. 1979. Ceratioid anglerfishes of the family Caulophrynidae with description of a new genus and species from the Banda Sea. Contributions in Science. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. No. 310: 1-25.
4. Pietsch, T. W. 1999. Caulophrynidae. in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-vi, 1398-2068.
5. Stewart, A.L. & T.W. Pietsch. 1998. The ceratioid anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Ceratioidei) of New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 28 (1): 1-37.