Rare deep sea creature with ‘bioluminescent tips’ turns up on California shore. See it
A deep-sea creature with a “long stalk on the head with bioluminescent tips” washed up on a California state park’s shore, officials said.
This marks the second Pacific footballfish, a species of anglerfish, to wash up on the Crystal Cove State Park’s shore, according to an Oct. 17 news release by the Laguna Beach-based state park. The first appeared in May 2021, officials said.
The first fish was taken by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to be analyzed, officials said. It was then put on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
Pacific footballfish, like the one that appeared Oct. 13, use their “lure to entice prey in pitch black water as deep as 3,000 feet,” officials said.
The anglerfish species has transparent teeth that replicate “pointed shards of glass,” state park officials said. Their mouth allows them to suck and swallow prey the size of their entire bodies.
Female Pacific footballfish can grow to be 24 inches while males only tend to grow to be an inch long, officials said.
The male’s purpose is to “latch onto the female with their teeth and become sexual parasites.”
Then the male gets consumed by the female “until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction,” officials said.
State park officials said to see an “actual angler fish intact is very rare and it is unknown how or why these fish ended up onshore.”
Laguna Beach is about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Creature with ‘large’ mouth and pointy teeth found in ocean depths. It’s a new species
Slimy creature — with sharp teeth and slender body — found in ocean. It’s a new species
Deep-sea creatures were hatching as scientists found nursery. It may be a new species
