Terrifying deep-sea creature that gave Finding Nemo viewers nightmares washes up on US beach
A deep-sea creature with teeth like pointed shards of glass and a “light bulb” antenna dangling from its head was found dead on the Oregon coast.
Visitors to Cannon Beach this month spotted the lifeless body of a midnight blackfish in the white sand.
The Seaside Aquarium confirmed that the sighting was an anglerfish, a so-called Pacific football fish, which lives in complete darkness 600 to 900 meters below the ocean’s surface.
This is only the 32nd time people have seen the creature and it is believed to be the first time one has been found dead in Oregon.
Visitors to Cannon Beach saw the lifeless body of a midnight black fish with a large mouth full of sharp teeth lying in the white sand
“While a handful of footballfish have been observed in New Zealand, Japan, Russia, Hawaii, Ecuador, Chile and California, to our knowledge this is the first reported on the Oregon coast,” the aquarium shared in a Facebook post.
‘Little is known about their life history, but what is known is extremely fascinating.’
Pacific football fish are one of more than 200 species of anglerfish, a family of bony fish.
They have a lifeless look due to completely black eyes attached to the sides of their flat heads.
What makes anglerfish unique is a dangling bioluminescent protrusion that extends from their face to hunt prey.
What makes anglerfish unique is a dangling bioluminescent protrusion that extends from their face to hunt prey
The tip glows due to bioluminescence produced by symbiotic bacteria, which act like a fishing rod to lure prey close enough to the fish’s mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth – but the tentacle is only found in females.
And the creature is capable of sucking in prey as large as its own body.
“Food at the depths these guys are looking at can be very scarce, so footballfish are not picky eaters,” the Seaside Aquarium said.
‘They eat whatever fits in their mouth. Only females actively hunt, because the males actually look more like parasites.
The tip glows due to bioluminescence, produced by symbiotic bacteria, which acts like a fishing rod to lure prey close enough to the fish’s mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth – but the tentacle is only found in females
Pacific Football Fish is one of more than 200 species of anglerfish, a family of bony fish. They have a lifeless look due to completely black eyes attached to the sides of their flat heads.
The aquarium continued to explain that males are 10 times smaller than females and are looking for a mate to help them survive.
‘[Males] lose their eyes and internal organs and get all their nutrients from their female partners,” the Facebook post reads.
‘In return, they provide females with a constant source of sperm. How the males find the females in the pitch dark is still unknown.’
According to a report in Science Magazine, scientists captured images of live anglerfish mating for the first time in 2018.
Previously, mating pairs of anglerfish had reportedly only been observed among dead specimens caught in nets.
The eerie footage showed the female’s glowing filaments stretching around her body as the tiny male clung to her.
The images were captured at a depth of 800 meters off the Portuguese island of São Jorge by deep-sea researchers Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen, using a remote-controlled vehicle.
Men’s permanent attachment to women represents what scientists call a form of “anatomical connection” unknown in humans except in rare genetically identical twins.