There are robust conical teeth in the front of the jaws and large molar like teeth to the rear of those. There are 1 or 2 lateral lines made up of superficial neuromasts. movement sensitive sensory canals on the head and as the fish ages the pores grow vey large. The scales, if present, are cycloid, tiny and do not overlap.

The caudal fin is separate from the other median fins in Anarhichas but they are all three joined in Anarrhichthys. The anal fin may have a single spine in Anarrhichthys, and again there is a large number of soft rays. The long dorsal fin starts at the head and has many flexible spines and soft rays. Anarrhichthys has an extremely elongate body and this has given rise to its common name of wolf-eel. Wolf eel, Anarrhichthys ocellatus Ayres, 1855.Īnarhichadidae wolfishes have a largely compressed and, in the genus Anarhichas a moderately elongate body.Bering wolffish, Anarhichas orientalis Pallas, 1814.Spotted wolffish, Anarhichas minor Olafsen, 1772.Atlantic wolffish or sea wolf, Anarhichas lupus Linnaeus, 1758.Northern wolffish, Anarhichas denticulatus Krøyer, 1845.Genera and species Īnarhichadidae contains two genera and five species: lupus) and means “the climber,” in turn derived from the Greek anarrhichesis which means, “to climb or scramble up”, this may be an allusion to the ancient belief that wolffishes left the water and climbed up on the rocks. Etymology Īnarhichadidae is derived from the name of its type genus Anarhichas which is an Ancient Greek name for the Atlantic wolffish ( A. Other authorities classify this family in the infraorder Zoarcales wihin the suborder Cottoidei of the Perciformes because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non monophyletic. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this family within the suborder Zoarcoidei, within the order Scorpaeniformes. Anarhichadidae was first proposed as a family in 1832 by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

Large wolf eel