They are easily distinguished from other anglerfishes by their possession of a second light-bearing dorsal fin spine immediately behind the illicium (the bioluminescent lure present in other anglerfishes).
As in other anglerfishes, the male is very much smaller than the female, and after a larval and adolescent free-living stage, spends the rest of his life parasitically attached to a female.
Species in this family are known almost entirely from adolescent females; only two larvae, one adult female, and one adult male have been found.[2]
One of the first specimens of the two-rod anglerfish (first called Ceratias bispinosus) was collected during the expedition of HMS Challenger during 1873–1876. It was first described by Albert Günther in 1887 in volume 22 of『Report on the deep-sea fishes collected by H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of ADD』[3]
