Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and for a world without hunger Department

Species Fact Sheets Lophius americanus (Valenciennes, 1837)

Lophius americanus: (click for more) Lophius americanus: (click for more)

FAO Names En - American angler, Fr - Baudroie d'Amérique, Sp - Rape americano. 3Alpha Code: ANG Taxonomic Code: 1950100103

Diagnostic Features Body and head strongly depressed; head narrow with snout length greater than head width. Gill openings not extending in front of pectoral base. Eyes small. Olfatory organs constricted at base, larger in mature males than in mature females. Illicium long (19.5-26.9% of SL); esca a simple pennant-like flap; very short third dorsal spine, it is length less than snout width; short fourth dorsal spine, its length less than snout width. Dorsal fin with 11-12 rays; Pectoral fin broad with 25-28 rays. Anal fin with 9-10 rays. Peritoneum light. Colour in preservative dark brown above with numerous very small darker brown spots, ventral body surface light tan; dorsal surface of pectoral fin similar to dorsal surface of body proximally, darker distally; ventral surface of pectoral fin light proximally, distal third gradually darkening to color of dorsal surface; pelvic fins darker distally; all fin rays with light tips; esca simple pennant-like flap with dark spot at base, greenish in life.

Geographical Distribution

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L. americanus inhabits the western North Atlantic from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the northern Gulf of Saint Lawrence south to Cape Hatteras. Records from the Gulf of Mexico, Carribean Sea, and Atlantic ocean south of Florida (Goode and Bean, 1896; Regan, 1903).

Habitat and Biology Benthic,from shallow, inshore waters to 329 m and records to 668 m (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953, and Leim and Scott, 1966).It lives on sandy, shell, or gravel bottoms and is found less abundantly on muddy or rough grounds.The angler fish feeds on a wide range of smaller fishes, mostly associated wih the sea-bed, wich have been enticed close to its mouth by delicate movements of its lure. Spawning takes place in spring and early summer over deep water offshore.

Size Attains a maximum length of 200 cm; common 30-50 cm.

Interest to Fisheries Caught commercially with bottom trawls and bottom longlines. The total catch reported for this species to FAO for 1999 was 26 331 t. The countries with the largest catches were USA (25 046 t) and Canada (1 265t). Marketed fresh and frozen; eaten steamed, sautéed, broiled, fried, microwaved and baked.

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Global Capture Production for species (tonnes) Source: FAO FishStat 40k

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Lophius americanus

Local Names English : American goosefish , Goosefish , Monkfish . German : Amerikanischer seeteufel .

Bibliography Bigelow & Schroeder. - 1953 Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Bull. Fish Wildl. Serv. U. S., 53: 1-577. Caruso, J. H. - 1983The systematics and distribution of the Lophiid anglerfishes: II. Revisions of the genera Lophiomus and Lophius. Copeia, 1983 (1): 11-30. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2003. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org Goode; G. B. & T. H. Bean. - 1896Oceanic ichthyology, a treatise on the deep-sea and pelagic fishes of the world, based chiefly upon the collections made by steamers Blake, Albatross and Fish Hawk in the northwestern Atlantic. Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., 30 and Spec. Bull. U. S. natn. Mus., 1895 (1896) and Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harv., 1 (Text): xxx + 1-553; 2 (Atlas): xxiii + 1-26. Leim, A. H. & W. B. Scott. - 1966Fishes of the Atlantic coast of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Bd Can., (155): 485 pp. Regan, C. T. - 1903 A Revision of the Fishes of the Family Lophiidae. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (7), 11: 277-285.

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department