You know I have a thing for strange animals so naturally this is a news story that picked my interest!
Look at this cute fella the waters washed up on California beach the other day
This cute little fella belongs to the species Himantolophus sagamius and is commonly known as the Pacific football fish.
It's a type of anglerfish, found in a wide range of waters as deep as 900 m:
The species has a wide range, extending from the coasts of Honshu (Gulf of Sagami) and Hokkaido islands through the Kuril-Kamchatka trough, in the northwest Pacific, to the eastern Pacific from California to Peru source
In case you wonder, the thingie dangling from its head is something found in all anglerfish, a modified luminescent fin ray (called esca or illicium) that acts as a lure for other fish. Usually there's not much to eat in the waters these fish inhabit so these fish work smart, not hard. They just wait for the pray to come to the lure :)
Here's a great video from Natgeo showing an anglerfish in action. Not the same species, but they all look pretty much the same. Fat and ugly:
Anyways, back to the anglerfish of our story. Apparently, an individual washing up almost intact is an extremely rare event and this is the second time this happens in just a few years
To see an actual angler fish intact is very rare and it is unknown how or why these fish ended up onshore. Seeing this strange and fascinating fish is a testament to the curious diversity of marine life lurking below the water’s surface in California’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and as scientists continue to learn more about these deep sea creatures it’s important to reflect on how much is still to be learned from our wonderful and mysterious ocean! source
As the climate gets more and more fucked I think sightings like this will get more and more common but hey..we don't want to sound alarmist or something!
Anyways. Cute little find :)
Feel free to click the links below for more info, photos and the original Facebook post from the guys who found this ugly little fucker 🥰
References & Further Reading
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