Historical Sketch of the Study of Melamphaidae

A historical sketch of the study of Melamphaidae has been given, from their first capture to the present. Information about fossil fish of the family, which are known mainly from otoliths (the earliest from the Paleocene) and, much less frequently, from skeletal remains, has been summarized. Their geographical distribution and history of fauna, biology, including information about the depths of habitat of all species, vertical migrations, the maximum known sizes of each species, the lengths starting from which mature fish are observed, information about reproduction and diet have been considered.