The footballfish are a family, Himantolophidae, of globelike, deep-sea anglerfishes found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean. The family contains approximately 19 species all in a single genus, Himantolophus. As in other deep-sea anglerfish families, sexual dimorphism is extreme: the largest females may exceed lengths of two feet and are globelike in shape, whereas males do not exceed 1.5 inches. Their flesh is gelatinous, but thickens in the larger females, which also possess a covering of “bucklers” — round, bony plates each with a median spine — that are absent in males. Both are a reddish brown to black in life.