Echinophryne combines echinos, meaning "spiny", a reference to the skin of the type species which was described as “thickly beset with large, upstanding, bifurcate spinules”, with phryne, meaning "toad", a common used suffix for anglerfish genera, it may date as far back as Aristotle and Cicero, who referred to anglerfishes as “fishing-frogs” and “sea-frogs,” respectively, this is assumed to be an allusion to the frog- or toad-like appearance of these fishes.[5]
Echinophryne anglerfishes have the second and third dorsal spines free of the skin and not hidden underneath it. The rough skin is densely covered in denticles. there is a caudal peduncle and the rearmost margins of the dorsal and anal fins are attached to the caudal peduncle in front of the base of the caudal fin. The illicium is covered by closely set denticles and lacks a bulbous lure, or esca.[2] These are relatively small fishes with the largest species being the long-spined anglerfish (E. mitchelli) which has a maximum published standard length of 11.1 cm (4.4 in).[6]
Echinophryne anglerfishes are endemic to Australia, they are found along the southern coasts of Australia from King George Sound (Western Australia)inWestern Australia[7]toJervis BayinNew South Wales, including Tasmania.[8] One species, the prickly anglerfish, is found in rocky reefs, frequently under rocks, ledges and around jetties[8] while the sponge anglerfish inhabits rocky reefs where it associates with sponges.[7] They are found as deep as 70 m (230 ft).[9]
^ abArnold, R. J.; R. G. Harcourt; and T. W. Pietsch (2014). "A new genus and species of the frogfish family Antennariidae (Teleostei: Lophiiformes: Antennarioidei) from New South Wales, Australia, with a diagnosis and key to the genera of the Histiophryninae". Copeia. 2014 (3): 534–539. doi:10.1643/CI-13-155.
