720 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 
Fam. 3. Antennariidae.— Mouth large, vertical or very 
oblique, turned upwards, with cardiform teeth. Gill-opening in 
or behind lower axil of pectoral; pseudobranchiae absent. 
Pectoral fin forming an elbow-like angle, with three pterygials. 
Ventral with 4 or 5 rays. Spinous dorsal present. Skin naked 
or spinulose. 
About +0 species, referable to 5 genera: Pterophryne, An- 
tennarius, Brachionichthys, Saccarius, and Chaunax. 
The species of Antennarius live mostly in coral groves, where 
they lie in wait for prey, well concealed by their protective 
coloration and the harmonising aspect of their integument and 
appendages. To this genus also belongs the “ Marbled Angler” 
(A. marmoratus), carried about in mid ocean among the Sargassum 
weed, to rest on which, from its peculiar arm-lke pectoral fins, 
it is specially fitted; there it makes its wonderful nest of silk- 
like fibres, probably secreted by the parent as in the Sticklebacks, 
with large bundles of eggs hanging like grape clusters." The 
deep-sea Chaunaxz inflates its abdomen like Zetrodon. 
Fam. 4. Gigantactinidae.—Mouth inferior, snout produced 
into a long tentacle directed forwards, and bearing a luminous 
organ. Body covered with small spines. Otherwise as in the 
Ceratiidae. Gigantactis vanhoeffeni, of Brauer, from the Indian 
Ocean, at depths of about 1000 fathoms. 
Fam. 5. Malthidae.—Mouth rather small, subterminal or 
inferior, with villiform or cardiform teeth. Gill-opening above 
pectoral; pseudobranchiae absent. Pectoral fin forming an 
elbow-like angle, with three pterygials. Ventral with 5 rays. 
Spinous dorsal absent, or reduced to a more or less developed 
tentacle lodged in a cavity under the snout. Head and body 
with bony tubercles or spines. 
About 30 species are known, mostly from the deep sea within 
the tropics (down to 1270 fathoms). Principal genera: Coelophrys, 
Malthe, Malthopsis, Halieutaea, Halicmethes, Dibranchus. 
The “ Bat-Fish ” (Malthe vespertilio), common in shallow water 
about the West Indies, is said to assume ‘an almost toad-like 
attitude on the ground, the head being directed slightly upwards, 
while the pectorals take on the function of hind legs and the 
ventrals of fore legs. 
1 Cf. A. Agassiz, Amer. Journ. Sci. (3), iii. 1872, p. 154; J. M. Jones, Nature, 
xix, 1879, p. 363; Vaillant, C. A. Soc, Biol. (8), iv. 1887, p. 732. 
