CERATIIDAE

Females of the Ceratiidae are distinguished by having an elongate, laterally compressed body; mouth almost vertical to strongly oblique; 2 or 3 club-shaped caruncles (low fleshy appendages) on the dorsal midline just anterior to the soft dorsal fin; dorsal-fin rays 4 or (rarely) 5; 4 anal-fin rays; 15–19 pectoral-fin rays; caudal fin rounded, with 8 well-developed rays (the ninth or lower-most ray reduced to a small remnant in Ceratias); the pterygiophore of the illicium emerging anteriorly well behind the tip of the snout and posteriorly on the back, near the soft dorsal-fin origin; males obligatory sexual parasites as adults (Pietsch, 2009).