Ogcocephalidae

Ogcocephalidae is a family of anglerfish specifically adapted for a benthic lifestyle of crawling about on the seafloor. Ogcocephalid anglerfish are sometimes referred to as batfishes, deep-sea batfishes, handfishes, and seabats. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. They are mostly found at depths between , but have been recorded as deep as . A few species live in much shallower coastal waters and, exceptionally, may enter river estuaries.

==Taxonomy== Ogcocephalidae was first proposed as a separate family, the Chaunacidae, by the American biologist David Starr Jordan in 1895. Charles Tate Regan placed this family within the division Antennariformes within his suborder Lophiodea when he classified the order Pediculati, his grouping of the toadfishes and anglerfishes. In 1981 Theodore Wells Pietsch III realized that the monophyly of Regan's 1912 groupings within his Lophoidea had not been confirmed. Pietsch proposed a sister relationship between the sea toads and the Ogcocephalidae, however, was unable to identify any grouping that was a sister group to both the Chaunacidae and Ogcocephalidae nor did he find any osteological characters to support or otherwise their classification within the Antennariiformes. He, tentatively, retained both groups within the Antennarioidei even although he was unable to establish the monophyly of the four families Regan classified in the Antennariiformes in 1912. In 1984 Pietsch classified the Ogcocephalidae in the monotypic suborder Ogcocephaloidei within the Lophiiformes. This is the classification followed by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.