ANGLER (Lophius piscatorius), also called the fishing frog, belongs to the order Pediculati. It is a bottom-living fish, abundant round the coasts of Europe and western North America ; it does not extend beyond 60° N. lat. The enormous mouth, with long, backwardly-directed, depressible teeth, and the large flattened head are diagnostic points. The fish walks along the bottom by means of its paired fins, which are modified for this purpose. The first three rays of the anterior dorsal fin are long filaments placed on the head ; the first, the longest, ends in a lappet, is freely movable, and acts as a lure to attract other fish. So large is the mouth and so extensible the stomach that the angler can engulf fish as big as or bigger than itself. It may reach a length of 5 ft. The spawn consists of a transparent, gelatinous sheet, 2 or 3 ft. broad and 25-30 ft. long. In this the eggs are embedded. A second species (L. budegassa) occurs in the Mediterranean and a third (L. litulon) on the coasts of Japan. Tropical species have 19 vertebrae instead of 26 to 32, and are placed in a distinct genus Lophiomus.
The order Pediculati includes also a number of little fishes (Antennarius, etc.) found in shallow water in warm seas and also a group, the Ceratioids, that live in the darkness of the middle depths of the ocean, from about Soo to 1,500 metres below the surface. These are blackish fishes, with a luminous lure ; the males are dwarfed and parasitic on the females. (See FISHES.)