Last week, shark research organization Condrik Tenerife captured footage of an unusual sighting – the humpback anglerfish.
An unprecedented sight, it captured the interest of people worldwide and highlighted that vast sections of ocean are turning greener due to climate change.
What is an Anglerfish?
Anglerfish, members of the Lophiiformes order of bony fishes, are among the ugliest animals found in the deep ocean. With their “fishing rods”, these fish lure their prey towards them for consumption.
An anglerfish’s dorsal fin (called an illicium) features a sac of bacteria that produces luminescence; this acts as bait to attract other fish into its depths while aiding its own search for mates.
Once male anglerfish find females, they fuse permanently with them, sharing skin and bloodstream connections while at the same time losing eyes and organs to make a new pair. This allows them to hunt together more efficiently while sharing in the responsibility for food acquisition.
What is the Anglerfish’s Habitat?
Anglerfish inhabit deep ocean environments where sunlight cannot reach. To attract prey, these fish utilize special lures containing bioluminescent bacteria as bait.
Their jaws can extend to allow them to consume fish and crustaceans up to twice their own size, as well as sucking up snails and other mollusks that have settled to the ocean floor.
Male anglerfish, which are much smaller than their female counterparts, mate by physical fusion with females to reproduce. Unfortunately, we know little about their biology due to them rarely coming to the surface and being difficult to observe in their natural habitat – the change in pressure would cause their demise if they attempted to swim there!
What is the Anglerfish’s Diet?
Anglerfishes use their lure-like filament hanging off of the first spine of their dorsal fin as a luminescent fishing rod to attract prey. By wiggling their lure, anglerfish lure in small crustaceans and fish before using its mouth to grab onto them for food.
Anglerfish species tend to inhabit waters low in nutrients, usually near the ocean floor, where their presence allows them to become ambush predators using lures to lure in prey.
Male anglerfish cannot survive without female partners to mate with, so they rely on pheromones to locate potential mates. An isolated free-living male may struggle with finding love in its dark environment – in such instances luminescent lures may help attract potential matches more effectively than traditional methods.
What is the Anglerfish’s Life Span?
Researchers remain unclear about early anglerfish development; however, these fish produce millions of eggs which aggregate into sheets covered with gelatinous material before being laid on a sheet to be covered later on by marine life. Once hatching takes place, larvae remain in pelagic circulation for some years before finally making their way down onto the seafloor and becoming adults.
Female anglerfish tend to grow larger and become identifiable with their dorsal spine sporting the luring apparatus, while males only reach half their size.
Condrik Tenerife video footage showed an anglerfish swimming to the surface in search of food; perhaps sick, stressed or fleeing predators; however it could also simply have been looking for tasty treats such as crustaceans or algae on its ocean floor floor.
What is the Anglerfish’s Adaptations?
No other species illustrates evolution quite as beautifully as the deep sea anglerfish. Living at depths so deep that pressure would crush conventional submarines, these creatures have developed soft bodies to endure such immense pressure from below.
Anglerfish also possess an odd adaptation, which includes a long spine on top of their head filled with bioluminescent bacteria that functions as an effective lure that draws unsuspecting prey towards it for consumption by the anglerfish.
Anglerfishes stand out among other species by employing an unusual method of reproduction: parasitic sex. Female anglerfish will attach themselves to male fish that then fuse together until both bodies become one organism.
What is the Anglerfish’s Future?
Researchers are still learning more about the anglerfish, known by several common names such as “snaggletooth sea devil”, “wolf trap”, and “pugnacious dreamer”. It lives anywhere between 1,000 to 16,400 feet below the surface, hunting alone.
An evolutionary symbiotic relationship exists between luminescent bacteria on its body and luminescent bacteria on its lure, which produce light for prey attraction and mating purposes, as well as anglerfish using their glowing lure to confuse predators and mark territory.
Scientists speculate that the black anglerfish which surfaced may have been sick, stressed or fleeing predators; however, climate change could put these deep sea dwellers in peril by altering ocean stratification, making oxygen less accessible in deeper waters.
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