15/02/2025
🌊🔬Rare Deep-Sea Anglerfish Captured on Film in Broad Daylight🤯🐠
A Spanish shark research organization may have recorded the first-ever footage of a rare deep-sea anglerfish swimming in daylight. The extraordinary sighting occurred off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands last week, during an expedition by Condrik Tenerife, a group dedicated to studying sharks and stingrays.
David Jara Boguñá, a photographer on the expedition, spotted the elusive humpback anglerfish, also known as the black sea devil. Typically found at depths of up to 1,500 meters, where sunlight does not pe*****te, this species is rarely seen near the ocean’s surface.
"This could be the first recorded sighting in the world of an adult black sea devil alive, in broad daylight and on the surface," Condrik Tenerife announced in an Instagram post.
The team was conducting research on pelagic sharks when they encountered the anglerfish. The species, named the black devil due to its dark coloration, sharp teeth, and ominous appearance, has fascinated marine biologists for years.
A Mysterious Sighting
Condrik researchers observed the fish for approximately an hour before it perished. It was then transported to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology in Tenerife for further study. Scientists have yet to determine the reason behind its unusual presence in shallow waters.
Oceanographic Magazine noted that some researchers speculate that El Niño weather patterns, which reduce cold water upwelling, could have played a role. Others suggest it may have been unwell or escaping a predator.
Marine biologist Laia Valor, who was part of the expedition, recounted the moment of discovery: "We were returning to port when I saw something black in the water that didn't look like plastic or debris. It seemed unusual. There could be thousands of reasons why it was there. We simply don’t know. It’s an extremely rare and isolated sighting."
A Lethal Predator of the Deep
The female humpback anglerfish is equipped with a bioluminescent lure teeming with bacteria, which it uses to attract prey in the pitch-black depths of the ocean.
Condrik researchers likened this feature to the depiction of anglerfish in the 2003 animated film Finding Nemo, where a similar deep-sea predator lures in its prey with a glowing appendage.
Melanocetus johnsonii, the scientific name for this species, was first discovered in 1863 by English naturalist James Yates Johnson near Madeira, off northwestern Africa. The specimen was later studied by Albert Carl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther, a zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who described it as an extraordinary new genus, distinguished by its lack of pelvic fins and its bizarre morphology.
This unprecedented sighting adds another layer of intrigue to the mysterious world of deep-sea creatures, raising further questions about their behavior and adaptability in changing oceanic conditions.
Article by 📸 | Damith Pasindu
