They are found in tropical to temperate waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, with one species known only from the Ross Sea.

The humpback anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii) was featured on the August 14, 1995, issue of Time magazine,[1] becoming a flagship species for deep sea fauna.

[4] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the family Melanocetidae in the suborder Ceratioidei of the anglerfish order Lophiiformes.

[6] Günther did not explain this choice of name but did note the uniform black colour, including the inside of the mouth of M.

[7] The black seadevil family, Melanocetidae, contains the single genus Melanocetus which has six valid species classified within it:[8] Black seadevils are characterised by a gelatinous, mostly scaleless, globose body, a large head, and generous complement of menacingly large, sharp, glassy, fang-like teeth lining the jaws of a cavernous, oblique mouth.

The esca is simple in black seadevils (with either a conical terminus or anterior and posterior ridges in some species), and both it and the illicium are free of denticles.

The Melanocetidae appear to buck the trend in deepsea anglers, in that the males—despite not feeding as an adult and thus being little more than couriers of sperm—are free-living rather than parasitic.

In contrast with males, females are poor swimmers and spend most of their time motionless, waiting for something to approach their lures.