"Seeing this strange and fascinating fish is a testament to the diversity of marine life lurking below the water's surface in California's MPAs ," the Crystal Cove State Park post said. It is currently being held by officials with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, according to CNN. The unusual specimen in this case may be transferred to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles to become part of the museum's collection, according to The Guardian. "Males latch onto the female with their teeth and become 'sexual parasites,' eventually coalescing with the female until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction," staff said on Facebook. And the fish's method of reproduction is unusual to say the least. Evolution turned this fish into a 'penis with a heart.' Here's how.įemale football fish can grow up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) long, while male football fish are only about an inch long, park officials said. The Pacific footballfish discovered Friday was collected by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and it was unclear Saturday where it would end up.- Creepy deep-sea anglerfish captured in rare video While anglerfish fish are rarely observed, many will find them to look familiar based on a scene in the popular animated movie “Finding Nemo,” in which Marlin and Dory are entranced by the glowing light and narrowly escape capture. They snatch up prey, usually small fish or squid, with long, sharp teeth. They’re called anglerfish because first spine of their dorsal fins, called the illicium, extends outward and contains a phosphorescent bulb intended to lure prey. Most species of anglerfish measure less than 12 inches. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro also has one on exhibit. In 1985 a Pacific footballfish was caught in a fisherman’s net in Monterey Bay and collected by the California Academy of Sciences. The 3.5-inch fish was collected for study. Bruce Robison of MBARI described the anglerfish as being “among the most rarely seen of all deep-sea fishes.” Robison described the footage as first of its kind. In 2014, scientists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute captured ROV footage of an anglerfish swimming 2,000 feet below the surface.ĭr. Though the fish itself is not rare, it is extremely rare to see one this intact along a beach in southern CA.”ĪLSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Boaters swim with giant basking sharks during rare encounter off San DiegoĮncounters with anglerfish are exceedingly rare because of the extreme, lightless depths at which they reside. “It’s one of more than 300 living species of anglerfish from around the world. “It’s been identified as a deep-sea Pacific footballfish, which is a species of anglerfish that normally dwell at depths more than 3,000 ft below the surface,” Davey’s Locker wrote. Images of the 18-inch anglerfish were captured by Estes and Crystal Cove employees, and shared to Facebook on Saturday by Davey’s Locker Sportfishing & Whale Watching. The extraordinary discovery of what has since been identified as a female Pacific footballfish, a type of anglerfish, was made by Ben Estes at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach. A man walking on a Southern California beach Friday discovered a well-preserved carcass of a bizarre-looking fish that typically resides at depths of 2,000-plus feet.
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