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Theodore W. Pietsch

Oceanic Anglerfishes

Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea

Buy Hardcover
$85.00, £50.00 hardcover
978-0-520-25542-5
NYP--Due 2/09
556 pages, 8-1/2 x 11 inches, 69 color illustrations, 15 b/w photographs, 226 line illustrations, 20 tables
February 2009, Available worldwide
Categories: Organismal Biology; Ichthyology; Zoology; Oceanography

"In the realm of ichthyological literature, it would be hard to find more fascinating creatures than the football fishes, pugnose dreamers, mischievous dreamers, and snaggletooth seadevils, (not to mention triplewart, needlebeard, and whipnose seadevils), but they're all here in Oceanic Anglerfishes. In this comprehensive study, you will learn that most of the species are smaller than your hand; most have a bioluminescent lure that may be employed to attract prey into gobbling range; and that the relatively tiny males affix themselves to the females, assuring permanent sexual contact in the blackness of the depths. This is a brilliantly illuminated viewing port into the world of deep-sea creatures, bringing into sharp focus fishes whose weird appearance, habits, and lifestyles stretch the imagination to the point of near unbelievability."—Richard Ellis, author of The Book of Sharks and Encyclopedia of the Sea
No environment on Earth imposes greater physical and biological constraints on life than the deep oceanic midwaters. Near-freezing temperatures, the absence of sunlight, enormous pressure, and a low food supply make habitation by any living thing almost inconceivable. Yet 160 species of anglerfishes are found there in surprising profusion. Monstrous in appearance, anglerfishes possess a host of unique and spectacular morphological, behavioral, and physiological innovations. In this fully illustrated book, the first to focus on these intriguing fish, Theodore W. Pietsch delivers a comprehensive summary of all that is known about anglerfishes—morphology, diversity, evolution, geographic distribution, bioluminescence, and reproduction.
Theodore W. Pietsch is Dorothy T. Gilbert Professor in the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, and Curator of Fishes at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington.