''Ceratias'' is a genus of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

sometimes referred to as the doublewart- or giant seadevils, belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ceratiidae Ceratiidae, the warty seadevils or caruncled seadevils, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the suborder Ceratioidei, the deep-sea anglerfishes, in the anglerfish order Lophiiformes. The warty sea devils are sexually dimorph ...

, the warty sea devils. The fishes in this genus are found throughout the world's oceans.

Taxonomy

''Ceratias'' was first proposed as a

monospecific genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

in 1845 by the Danish

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Henrik Nikolai Krøyer when he described ''Ceratias holboelli''. The type locality of ''C. holboelli'' was given as Southern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. The 5th edition of

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

classifies this genus in the family Ceratiidae within the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Ceratioidei Ceratioidei, the deep-sea anglerfishes or pelagic anglerfishes, is a suborder of marine ray-finned fishes, one of five suborders in the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes. These fishes are found in tropical and temperate seas throughout the wor ...

of the

anglerfish The anglerfish are ray-finned fish in the order Lophiiformes (). Both the order's common name, common and scientific name comes from the characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified dorsal Fish fin#Ray-fins, fin ray acts as a Aggressiv ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Lophiiformes The anglerfish are ray-finned fish in the order Lophiiformes (). Both the order's common and scientific name comes from the characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified dorsal fin ray acts as a lure for prey (akin to a human angler, ...

. Within the Ceratioidei this family is a

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the Centrophrynidae.

Etymology

''Ceratias'' means "horn bearer", an allusion to the esca sticking up from the snout.

Species

There are currently three recognized

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in this genus: * ''

Ceratias holboelli ''Ceratias'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish sometimes referred to as the doublewart- or giant seadevils, belonging to the family Ceratiidae, the warty sea devils. The fishes in this genus are found throughout the world's oceans. Taxonomy ...

'' Krøyer, 1845 (Krøyer's deep sea angler fish) * '' Ceratias tentaculatus'' Norman, 1930 (southern seadevil) * ''

Ceratias uranoscopus ''Ceratias uranoscopus'', the stargazing seadevil, is a species of Marine life, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Ceratiidae, the warty sea devils. The fish is both bathypelagic and mesopelagic and c ...

'' J. Murray, 1877 (stargazing seadevil)

Characteristics

''Ceratias'' warty seadevils have metamorphosed females that are distinguished from those of the triplewart seadevil, the only member of the other Ceratiid genus '' Cryptopsaras'', in having a long

illicium ''Illicium'' is a genus of flowering plants treated as part of the family Schisandraceae,

. The illicium is twice as long as the bulb of the esca. They also have two modified first

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

rays, or caruncles on the midline of the back immediately in front of the main fin. There is also no anterior spine in the suboperculum. In the males of this genus the upper and lower pairs of denticular teeth are almost the same size. The larvae, males and the juvenile females do not have any pigment in the subdermal layer. The largest species in the genus is Krøyer's deep sea angler fish which has a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Ceratias'' wart sea devils are found throughout the world's oceans at depths from the surface to . Only adults appear in colder polar waters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3243731 Ceratiidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Henrik Nikolai Krøyer