The East Atlantic species is found along the coasts of Europe but becomes scarce beyond
60°N latitude; it also occurs on the coasts of the
Cape of Good Hope. The species caught on the
North American side of the Atlantic is usually
Lophius americanus. A third species (
Lophius budegassa), inhabits the
Mediterranean, and a fourth (
L. setigerus) the coasts of
Korea,
China and
Japan. The black (
L. budegassa) and white (
L. piscatorius)
anglerfish both live in deep, inshore waters from to deeper waters (greater than ). These two species are very similar, with only a few distinctions between them. These include the colour of the
peritoneum (black for
L. budegassa and white for
L. piscatorius) and the number of rays in the second dorsal fin (
L. budegassa, 9–10 and
L. piscatorius, 11–12). Also, minor differences in their distribution occur. Black anglerfish tend to have a more southern distribution (Mediterranean and eastern North Atlantic from the
British Isles to
Senegal). In contrast, the white anglerfish are distributed further north (Mediterranean,
Black Sea and eastern North Atlantic from the
Barents Sea to the
Strait of Gibraltar). Despite these differences, the overall distribution of the black and white anglerfish tend to overlap greatly. A map of the distribution of anglerfish in the waters surrounding Europe and North Africa can be found in the external links section. The movements of both species of anglerfish indicate mixing of both northern and southern species could have strong implications for the geographical boundaries of the stocks from a management perspective. ==Commercial use==