Lantern fish or monkfish: description and characteristics. Monkfish Fish with a light bulb on his head title

The anglerfish belongs to the suborder Ceratioidei, the order Lophiiformes, which includes more than 100 species. It lives in the ocean column at depths from 1.5 to 3 km. Its body is spherical, flattened on the sides. The head is huge, occupying more than half of the total length. The mouth is awesome, with long sharp

teeth. The bare skin is dark in color, spines and plaques are characteristic only for some species. The "fishing rod", which gave the name to the detachment, is the modified first ray of the fin located on the back. It is found only in females.

There was an opinion that angler fish has ugly forms with bulging eyes. The photo shows her after lifting from the depths. In her typical environment, she looks completely different. And we are evaluating the consequences of a huge pressure difference (250 atmospheres) in the water column and on the surface.

deep sea anglerfish- an amazing creation. Females are hundreds of times larger than males. The females that we managed to catch and extract from the sea water turned out to be in the range from 5 to 100 cm in length, and the males - from 1.6 to 5 cm. This is one of the manifestations. It is worth noting that it ends with a luminous due to

bioluminescent bacteria "bait". An angler fish is able to “turn it on and off” by feeding a kind of gland with blood. The length of the illition different types different. For some, it can lengthen and shorten, luring the victim directly into the hunter's mouth.

The nutrition of these fish is also amazing. Females eat crustaceans, occasionally molluscs. Their stomach can increase in size at times. There are cases when they swallowed victims much larger than themselves. Such greed led to death, because. the female was choking on her "lunch", but she could not let it out of herself, her long teeth were holding back. Males, given their small size, are also available with chaetognaths.

anglerfish breeds in spring-summer period. Females spawn small eggs, males fertilize them. From a depth, the eggs float to the near-surface layer (up to 200 m), where there is more opportunity to feed. This is where the larvae come in. By the time of metamorphosis, the grown juveniles descend to a depth of 1 km. After the transformation, the angler fish will go to even greater depths, where it will reach puberty and live its characteristic life.

Fish angler - one of the manifestations of diversity natural world. It is no coincidence that a wonderful way of existence that seems to us has been developed over the centuries. Much still remains unknown. Perhaps someday an explanation will be found.

Angler - predatory fish detachment of anglerfishes. This species received the name "monkfish" because of its very unattractive appearance. The fish is edible. The meat is white, dense, without bones. Especially popular "monkfish" in France.

Whatever they are called - and sea ​​devils, and sea scorpions, and anglerfish, and European anglerfish. However, there are also several varieties of this miracle fish. And for originality appearance, each of the species is not inferior to each other. People have never seen devils, but the sea monsters that have risen from the depths resemble creatures from the underworld.

It is worth saying that in aquatic life there is another monkfish - a mollusk, but now we will talk about a representative of ray-finned fish.

In fact, it's just a sea fish - a predatory fish with an amazing, unlike anything appearance. These fish belong to the ray-finned fish, to the anglerfish order, to the anglerfish family, to the anglerfish genus. Now in water depths land there are two varieties of monkfish.

Appearance

At the first glance at this creature, a remarkable organ, the “fishing rod”, immediately catches the eye. The modified fin really resembles a fishing rod with a luminous float. An ugly freak, sometimes reaching up to two meters in length and 30-40 kilograms, he can regulate the glow of his float. But there is nothing supernatural in this. In fact, the float is a kind of skin formation, in the folds of which amazing bacteria live. In the presence of oxygen, which they draw from the anglerfish's blood, they glow. But if the monkfish just had lunch and went to take a nap, he does not need a luminous flashlight, and he blocks the access of blood to the fishing fin, and the float fades before the start of a new hunt.

Whole appearance monkfish betrays a resident in it sea ​​depths. An elongated body, with an unnaturally large head, everything is covered with some kind of growths, remotely resembling either algae, or tree bark, or some kind of knots and snags.

The body length of the monkfish is about 2 meters, while the animal weighs almost 20 kilograms. The body has a slightly flattened shape. In general, the anglerfish is not a very pleasant-looking fish. It is all covered with some kind of leathery outgrowths that look similar to snags and algae. The head is disproportionately large, huge and unpleasant in monkfish and mouth.

Habitat

The habitat of this fish is the Atlantic Ocean. The angler is found off the coast of Europe, off the coast of Iceland. In addition, monkfish have been found in the waters of the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Sea and Barents Sea.

The depth at which these fish usually live is from 50 to 200 meters. Most often they are found at the very bottom, because there is nothing more pleasant for a monkfish than just lying quietly on the sand or silt. But it is only at first glance that the angler is idle. In fact, this is one of the ways to hunt. The animal freezes, waiting for its prey. And when she swims by, she grabs her and eats her.

Nutrition

The main food for these fish is other, usually smaller, fish. The monkfish menu consists of katrans, atherins, Kalkans, stingrays and others.

In general, the monkfish is incredibly voracious and therefore boldly rushes even at a seemingly obviously unattainable goal. And in “hungry” moments, a large anglerfish suffering from an almost complete lack of vision rises to the upper water column from the depths and at such moments it is able to attack scuba divers. You can meet such an inhabitant of the deep sea just at the end of summer, after an exhausting hungry spawning, the "devils" go to shallow water, where they intensively eat off until autumn, after which they go to wintering at great depths.

However, compared to sharks, barracudas and octopuses, real monkfish or anglers do not pose an immediate danger to humans. Be that as it may, their terrible teeth are capable of disfiguring the hand of a careless fisherman for life. However, much more damage the angler inflicts not on humans, but on other commercial fish species. So, there are legends among fishermen that, having got into a fishing net, during his stay there, he ate the fish that got there.

reproduction

The male and female anglerfish are so different in appearance and size that until some time experts attributed them to different classes. Monkfish breeding is as special as their appearance and way of hunting.

The male anglerfish is several times smaller than the female. To fertilize the eggs, he needs to find his chosen one and not lose sight of her. To do this, the males simply bite into the body of the female. The structure of the teeth does not allow them to free themselves, and they do not want to.

Over time, the female and male grow together, forming a single organism with a common body. Part of the organs and systems of the "husband" atrophies. He no longer needs eyes, fins, stomach. Nutrients come through the blood vessels from the body of the "wife". It remains only for the male to fertilize the eggs at the right time.

They are swept out by the female usually in the spring. The fecundity of the sea anglerfish is quite high. On average, the female spawns up to 1 million eggs. This occurs at a depth, looks like a long (up to 10 m) and wide (up to 0.5 m) ribbon. The female can carry several “husbands” on her body so that they fertilize a large number of eggs at the right time.

It should be noted that the female monkfish can simultaneously lay a clutch, which has about three million eggs. After some time, the eggs are released and travel on their own to sea ​​waters. Turning into larvae, they live closer to the surface of the water for up to four months, and only reaching a length of 6-8 cm, they sink to the bottom.

Monkfish are not able to compare the feeling of hunger with the size of the prey. There is evidence of anglers catching fish larger than themselves but unable to release them due to the structure of their teeth. It happens that a monkfish catches a waterfowl and chokes on feathers, which leads to his death.

Monkfish in cooking

Monkfish is suitable both for frying in pieces, and for frying in layers on a grill on a grill, or diced and put on skewers on a grill. Monkfish are boiled and stewed. The fish is especially popular in France, where the meat of its tail is prepared in many ways, for example with blackcurrant jam or sweet yam, and the head of the devil is used for a rich, fatty, spicy soup.

Monkfish meat is highly valued in Japan. Not only meat is eaten, but also liver, fins, skin and stomach.

Chinese monkfish prefer to cook in a wok. The fillet is fried in oil with rice vinegar and soy sauce, sprinkled with ginger and chili. Then the wok is removed from the fire, the fish is covered with coriander and green onions, mixed, served with rice. Everyone who has tried this dish finds it slightly smoky. All this is a game of spices and features of the wok. The fish is tender and very juicy thanks to the quick frying.

In America, monkfish are cooked mainly on the grill. The fish is cut into pieces with skin and vertebral bone. Marinate with salt, olive oil and rosemary. The oil coats the fish pieces and prevents them from drying out. Served monkfish with grilled vegetables, seasoned lemon juice and olive oil.

In the same America, they cook carrot puree with monkfish fillet meatballs. Carrots are boiled until soft, then stewed in heavy cream, chopped with the addition of coriander and salt. Monkfish fillets are crushed, mixed with salt and spices, and molded into meatballs the size of Walnut, steam them. Puree is served in deep bowls, with a dozen meatballs in each and sprinkled with fresh herbs.

In Korea they make monkfish National dish Khe and cook a sweet-spicy soup, to which they add a lot of vegetables and fried monkfish (fillet) in batter. Monkfish meat, seasoned with hot spices, is put in rice dough (pancakes) and fried in in large numbers oils. Serving fish with soy sauce.

In gourmet restaurants in a number of countries, you can find dishes where monkfish fish is presented in the following form. The fish is fried and served with sweet and sour sauce, poached fish with lemon and lemon zest, as well as poached and served with parsley or spinach sauce with cheese. Fish is fried with chili peppers, smoked paprika and ginger, stewed in white wine, cream sauce, milk, baked with tomatoes, fried, strung on rosemary sprigs.

Monkfish are baked in the form of a roll. The fillet is laid out in a layer on a film, the filling is placed on top, for example, broccoli, rolled up. The ends of the film are tied, the roll in this form is lowered into water and the fish is boiled for 10 minutes at a temperature not exceeding 86`C. With this method, the fillet remains soft and juicy, but keeps its shape perfectly. Served with fish cream sauce and fried potato medallions.

In the free sale, the monkfish is not often, because. already mentioned above, the fish is under state protection and its catch is limited. Monkfish in non-frozen form can be found in large hypermarkets at a very high price in a certain season or in the market from private sellers (this is in Europe and America). The rest of the time, if they sell fish, it is frozen, but its price is just as high - 20 euros per 1 kg.

Why do fish need flashlights?

In conditions of constant darkness, the ability to glow plays a huge role. For predators, this is the lure of prey by fishing fish. In the anglerfish, the first ray of the spiny dorsal fin shifted on its head and turned into a rod, at the end of which there is a bait that serves to attract prey .. Their victims have the ability to glow, on the contrary, - a way of disorienting predators who are lost in a round dance of flashes. In some fish, only the lower part of the body glows, which makes them less visible against the background of diffused overhead light. Perhaps this is how the ironfish becomes invisible, having a fantastic appearance with a completely flat silvery bottom that reflects light. But the main task photophores is, of course, the designation of individuals of the same species.

The "lanterns" themselves are small and large, single or arranged in "constellations" over the entire surface of the body. They can be round or oblong, like luminous stripes. Some fish resemble ships with rows of luminous portholes, and in predators they are often located at the ends of long antennae - rods. Many deep-sea fish, such as anglerfish, luminous anchovies, hatchets, photostome, have luminous organs - photofluores, which serve to attract prey or to camouflage from predators. Melanocete females, like females of other deep-sea anglerfish (and there are 120 known species), have a “fishing rod” growing on their heads. It ends with a brilliant esque. By waving the "fishing rod", the melanocet lures the fish to itself and directs them directly into the mouth.

In luminous anchovies, photofluors are located on the tail, trunk around the eyes. The downward light of the abdominal photophores blurs the outlines of these small fish against the background of weak light coming from above and makes them invisible from below.

Hatchet photophores are located along the abdomen on both sides and on the lower part of the body and also emit a greenish light downwards. Their lateral photophores resemble portholes.

FISH FISH

Among the predatory fish that live in the waters of the oceans, there are absolutely amazing creatures, forming special detachment, - anglerfish. External distinctive feature of these fish is a very original first ray of the dorsal fin. It is not located on the back, like other brothers underwater world but on the head. The beam can be short or extraordinarily elongated. For example, in a deep-sea gigantactis, the beam is 4 times the length of the fish itself. This is a very mobile flexible rod with a "bait" at the end.

With the help of such a fishing rod, the angler fish lures prey to itself. The "bait" of deep-sea anglers is not simple and you can catch it even in pitch darkness at great depths. A small swelling at the end of the beam is covered with a transparent skin, and inside there is a special gland that secretes mucus. Mucus is home to glow-in-the-dark bacteria. Having lured some fish closer to its mouth with the help of worm-like movements of the fishing rod, the angler opens its huge toothy mouth with lightning speed and swallows the prey.

For deep-sea anglers living at depths of 1.5-2.5 thousand meters, other equally amazing features are also characteristic. So, for example, their stomach can stretch so much that it can accommodate and digest very big fish, sometimes exceeding the length of the predator itself. Excessive gluttony of deep-sea anglers often causes their death. Having grabbed a too large fish with its mouth, the predator, due to the structure of its sharp teeth, can no longer release it and is forced to continue swallowing. On the surface of the sea, ichthyologists found dead anglerfish with a prey stuck in their mouths, the size of which was twice the size of the predator itself.

Whatever they are called - and sea devils, and sea scorpions, and anglerfish, and European anglerfish. However, there are also several varieties of this miracle fish. And in terms of originality of appearance, each of the species is not inferior to each other. People have never seen devils, but the sea monsters that have risen from the depths resemble creatures from the underworld.

In fact, this is just a sea fish - a predatory fish with an amazing, unlike anything appearance.

These fish belong to the ray-finned fish, to the anglerfish order, to the anglerfish family, to the anglerfish genus. Now in the water depths of the earth there are two varieties of monkfish:

• European anglerfish (lat. Lophius piscatorius);
• American anglerfish (lat. Lophius americanus).

The appearance of the sea anglerfish

At the first glance at this creature, a remarkable organ is immediately evident - the "fishing rod". The modified fin really resembles a fishing rod with a luminous float. An ugly freak, sometimes reaching up to two meters in length and 30-40 kilograms, he can regulate the glow of his float. But there is nothing supernatural in this. In fact, the float is a kind of skin formation, in the folds of which amazing bacteria live. In the presence of oxygen, which they draw from the anglerfish's blood, they glow. But if the monkfish just had lunch and went to take a nap, he does not need a luminous flashlight, and he blocks the access of blood to the fishing fin, and the float fades before the start of a new hunt.

The whole appearance of the monkfish betrays in him an inhabitant of the deep sea. An elongated body, with an unnaturally large head, everything is covered with some kind of growths, remotely resembling either algae, or tree bark, or some kind of knots and snags.

The sight of a monkfish that went hunting, with an open mouth full of sharp teeth, of course, makes an indelible impression. The skin on top is bare brown, covered with dark spots, sometimes with a reddish tinge, and a light, almost white belly, serve as a good camouflage against the dark seabed.

monkfish habitat

Fish of this species are found in the seas and oceans around the world. Although its main refuge is still the Atlantic Ocean. Monkfish are also found off the coast of Europe and Iceland. In addition, it is caught in the Black and Baltic, and even in the cold North and Barents Seas. This rather unpretentious bottom fish can easily exist in water at temperatures from 0 to 20 degrees.

Anglerfish can live at different depths from 50 to 200 meters. True, there are also such specimens that prefer a depth of up to 2000 meters.

Hunters from the depths of the sea

The best pastime for the angler will be a calm and well-fed lying on the seabed in the sand or silt. But don't let his immovable body fool you. This is a very gluttonous, but patient creature. The sea scorpion can lie still for hours, tracking and waiting for the appearance of its prey. As soon as some curious fish swims by, the angler immediately grabs it and immediately stuffs it into his mouth.

It should be noted that the appetite of this fish is excellent. Very often he feeds on prey, which is almost not inferior to him in size. Because of this voracity, unpleasant and even fatal cases occur when anglers choke on prey that does not fit in their stomach, although its size is truly enormous. Sometimes they rise to the surface of the water and prey on birds whose feathers, stuck in their mouths, can lead to suffocation. After all, having grabbed the victim, the angler can no longer release it due to the specific structure of its teeth.

Monkfish also have another type of hunting. He literally jumps along the bottom with the help of the lower fins and, overtaking the victim, eats it.

Monkfish - a predator, the subject of his hunt are:

• small fish;
• small sharks - katrans;
• small stingrays or their cubs;
• variety of waterfowl.

Family life and reproduction of anglerfish

Monkfish females are many times larger than males. The role of males is reduced to nothing more than fertilization of eggs. Moreover, they have become lazy to the point that when they find a female, they cling to her with sharp teeth and remain with her for life. Over the years, some of their organs atrophy, and they become just appendages of the female, which do not need to hunt because they feed on the blood of the female. Sometimes several males stick to the female to fertilize more eggs.

When it comes mating season, females descend to the depth and release a ribbon of caviar up to 10 meters long. The tape is divided into small hexagonal cells with eggs. It should be noted that the female monkfish can simultaneously lay a clutch, which has about three million eggs. After some time, the eggs are released and they themselves travel in sea waters. Turning into larvae, they live closer to the surface of the water for up to four months, and only reaching a length of 6-8 cm, they sink to the bottom.

Monkfish as a gastronomic dish

Despite the outward ugliness, monkfish meat is very tasty. In Spain and France, dishes from it are considered a delicacy. Most chefs use only the tail of the fish, but restaurants often use the head of the monkfish to make delicious seafood soup. Anglerfish meat is cooked in different ways:

• grilled;
• boiled for soups and salads;
• stew with vegetables.

It is white, almost boneless, dense and tender at the same time, reminiscent of lobster meat.

Anglerfish, or sea devils (Lophius) - very prominent representatives genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the anglerfish family and the anglerfish order. Typical benthic inhabitants are found, as a rule, on a muddy or sandy bottom, sometimes semiburrowing into it. Some individuals settle among algae or between large rock fragments.

Description of the monkfish

On both sides of the angler's head, as well as along the edge of the jaws and lips, fringed skin hangs down, moving in the water and resembling algae in appearance. Due to this feature of the structure, anglers become hardly noticeable against the background of the ground.

Appearance

The European angler has a body length within a couple of meters, but more often - no more than one and a half meters.. Weight Limit adult is 55.5-57.7 kg. The aquatic inhabitant has a naked body, covered with numerous leathery growths and clearly visible bone tubercles. The torso is of a flattened type, compressed in the direction of the back and belly. The eyes of the monkfish are small, widely spaced. The dorsal area is brownish, greenish-brown or reddish in color with dark spots.

The American angler has a body length of no more than 90-120 cm, with an average weight in the range of 22.5-22.6 kg. The black-bellied anglerfish is a marine deep sea fish, reaching a length of 50-100 cm. The body length of the West Atlantic anglerfish does not exceed 60 cm. The Burmese anglerfish, or Cape anglerfish, is characterized by a huge flattened head and a rather short tail, which occupies less than a third of the total body length. The size of an adult individual does not exceed a meter.

This is interesting! The devil is a fish unique in appearance and lifestyle, capable of moving along the bottom with peculiar jumps, which are carried out due to the presence of a strong pectoral fin.

The total body length of the Far Eastern anglerfish is one and a half meters. The aquatic inhabitant has a large and wide flat head. Mouth very large, protruding forward lower jaw on which one or two rows of teeth are located. The skin of the monkfish is devoid of scales. The ventral fins are located in the throat area. wide pectoral fins distinguished by the presence of a fleshy lobe. The first three rays of the dorsal fin are isolated from each other. The upper part of the body is brown in color, with light spots surrounded by a dark border. The lower part of the body is characterized by a light color.

Character and lifestyle

According to many scientists, the very first sea anglers or sea devils appeared on our planet more than a hundred million years ago. However, despite such a venerable age, characteristics behavior and lifestyle of anglerfish on this moment not well studied.

This is interesting! One of the anglerfish's ways of hunting is to make jumps with the help of fins and then swallow the caught prey.

Such a large predatory fish practically does not attack a person, which is due to the considerable depth at which the anglerfish settles. When rising from a depth after spawning, too hungry fish can harm scuba divers. During this period, the monkfish may well bite a person by the hand.

How long do anglers live

The longest recorded lifespan of the American anglerfish is thirty years.. The black-bellied angler lives in natural conditions for about twenty years. The life expectancy of the Cape monkfish rarely exceeds ten years.

Types of sea devils

The genus Anglerfish includes several species represented by:

• American anglerfish, or American monkfish (Lophius americanus);
• Black-bellied anglerfish, or South European anglerfish, or Budegassa anglerfish (Lophius budegassa);
• West Atlantic anglerfish (Lophius gastrophysus);
• Far Eastern monkfish or Far Eastern anglerfish (Lophius litulon);
• European anglerfish, or European anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius).

Also known species are the South African anglerfish (Lophius vaillanti), the Burmese or Cape anglerfish (Lophius vomerinus) and the extinct Lorhius brachysomus Agassiz.

Range, habitats

The black-bellied angler has spread throughout the eastern Atlantic, from Senegal to the British Isles, as well as in the waters of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Representatives of the species Western Atlantic anglerfish are found in the west Atlantic Ocean, where such an angler is a demersal fish that lives at a depth of 40-700 m.

The American monkfish is an oceanic demersal (bottom) fish that lives in the waters of the northwest Atlantic, at a depth of no more than 650-670 m. The species has spread along the North American Atlantic coast. In the north of its range, the American angler lives at shallow depths, and in the southern part, representatives of this genus are sometimes found in coastal waters.

The European anglerfish is distributed in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Europe, from the Barents Sea and Iceland to the Gulf of Guinea, as well as the Black, Northern and Baltic Seas. The Far Eastern anglerfish belongs to the inhabitants Sea of ​​Japan, settles off the coastline of Korea, in the waters of Peter the Great Bay, and also near the island of Honshu. Part of the population is found in the waters of the Okhotsk and yellow seas, along the Pacific coast of Japan, in the waters of the East China and South China Seas.

angler diet

Ambush predators spend most of their time waiting for their prey absolutely motionless, hiding on the bottom and almost completely merging with it. The diet is represented mainly by the most various kinds fish and cephalopods, including squid and cuttlefish. Occasionally, the angler eats all kinds of carrion.

By the nature of their food, all sea devils are typical predators.. The basis of their diet is represented by fish that live in the bottom water column. In the stomach contents of anglerfish there are gerbils, small rays and cod, eels and small sharks, as well as flounder. Closer to the surface, adult aquatic predators are able to hunt mackerel and herring. Cases are well known when anglers attacked not too large birds that sway peacefully on the waves.

This is interesting! When the mouth is opened, a so-called vacuum is formed, in which the flow of water with the victim quickly rushes into oral cavity sea ​​predator.

Thanks to the pronounced natural camouflage, the monkfish lying motionless on the bottom is almost invisible. For the purpose of disguise, an aquatic predator burrows into the ground or lurks in dense thickets of algae. Potential prey is attracted by a special luminous lure located at the end part of a kind of fishing rod, represented by an elongated ray of the dorsal front fin. At the moment of close proximity of crustaceans, invertebrates or fish touching the esca, the lurking monkfish very sharply opens its mouth.

Reproduction and offspring

Individuals of various species become fully sexually mature in different ages. For example, male European anglerfish reach puberty at the age of six years (with a total body length of 50 cm). The maturation of females occurs only at the age of fourteen, when individuals reach almost a meter in length. spawn European anglers V different time. For all northern populations living near the British Isles, spawning is typical between March and May. All southern populations that inhabit the waters near the Iberian Peninsula spawn from January to June.

During the period of active spawning, males and females of representatives of the genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the anglerfish family and the anglerfish order descend to a depth of forty meters to two kilometers. Having descended into the deepest water, the female anglerfish begins to spawn, and the males cover it with their milk. Immediately after spawning, hungry mature females and adult males swim out to areas of shallow water, where they feed intensively before the onset of autumn period. Preparation of monkfish for wintering is carried out at a fairly large depth.

Eggs laid aside sea ​​fish, a kind of ribbon is formed, abundantly covered with mucous secretions. Depending on the species characteristics of the representatives of the genus, the total width of such a tape varies between 50-90 cm, with a length of eight to twelve meters and a thickness of 4-6 mm. Such tapes are able to drift freely through the watery sea. A peculiar clutch, as a rule, consists of a couple of million eggs, which are separated from each other and have a single layer arrangement inside special slimy hexagonal cells.

Over time, the walls of the cells are gradually destroyed, and thanks to the fatty drops inside the eggs, they are prevented from settling to the bottom and floating freely in the water. The difference between the born larvae and adults is the absence of a flattened body and large pectoral fins.

A characteristic feature of the dorsal fin and ventral fins is represented by strongly elongated anterior rays. The hatched anglerfish larvae stay in the surface layers of water for a couple of weeks. The diet is represented by small crustaceans, which are carried by water currents, as well as larvae of other fish and pelagic eggs.

This is interesting! Representatives of the species European monkfish have large caviar and its diameter can be 2-4 mm. The caviar that the American angler throws is smaller, and its diameter does not exceed 1.5-1.8 mm.

In the process of growth and development, monkfish larvae undergo peculiar metamorphoses, which consist in a gradual change in body shape to the appearance of adults. After the anglerfish fry reach a length of 6.0-8.0 mm, they descend to a considerable depth. Sufficiently grown young individuals actively settle in the middle depths, and in some cases, juveniles move closer to the coastline. During the very first year of life, the rate of growth processes in monkfish is as fast as possible, and then the development process marine life noticeably slows down.