The species has only been seen a few times in California - including Orange County, where it washed up near Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach in May. The fish use a fleshy, bioluminescent lure from their heads to attract prey. It is usually found 2,000 to 3,000 feet beneath the sea, where sunlight doesn't penetrate, according to the California Academy of Sciences. "At first I thought it was a - like a jellyfish or something, and then I went and looked at it a little more carefully, and some other people were gathered around it too, and then I saw that it was this very unusual fish.It's the stuff of nightmares - mouth almost looked bloody! I'd say it was nearly a foot long," Beiler told local media, according to Storyful. 13 when it washed up at Torrey Pines State Beach. It's called the Pacific footballfish, and it's one of the larger anglerfish species. Crystal Cove State Park CNN An unusual fish with teeth as. A rare, monstrous-looking fish recently washed ashore in San Diego. Updated 10:51 AM EDT, Wed Link Copied The angler fish washed ashore at the Crystal Cove State Park in California. (KABC) - This is really the stuff of nightmares. CDFW added that they put the park service in contact with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles to arrange for a transfer."It's the stuff of nightmares!" A rare, monstrous-looking fish normally found thousands of feet deep in the ocean washed ashore at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) told Snopes that they were made aware of the anglerfish by the Orange Coast District of California Department of Parks and Recreation and as of this writing, the fish is frozen at Crystal Cove State Parks. There are more than 300 living species of anglerfish, scientific order Lophiiformes, found around the world, all of which are considered bony fish. Ocean currents could have played a part." "As far as reaching the surface, disease might have rendered her incapable of maintaining depth. "A necropsy might shed light on the cause of death," he said. “The male becomes a permanent appendage that draws nutrition from its female host and serves as an easily accessible source of sperm.”Ĭatania noted that the current specimen appeared to be in "excellent condition," suggesting it was likely not killed as a result of predation. “The males of some anglerfish species, including the football fish, have evolved into ‘sexual parasites.’ Using well-developed olfactory organs, they find and fuse themselves to females, eventually losing their eyes, internal organs, and everything else but the testes,” noted the academy.
It is not yet known whether the California footballfish is male or female, but the two genders are known to differ dramatically in size - some females can measure up to ten times larger than their male counterparts. In a lightning-fast motion, it sucks the prey into its mouth, where its teeth - which point inward - ensure that what goes in doesn’t come out,” wrote the academy. “Using its esca as a lure, an anglerfish remains motionless until prey comes within striking distance. The glow of the esca comes from photobacteria that emit light, flowing into the point through small pores - when inside, they survive on the nutrition provided by the host. Sunlight doesn’t penetrate the depths at which the Pacific footballfish live and because food is scarce in the deep, their esca is a special evolutionary advantage that helps them to entice whatever fits in their mouth, from other fish to squid and crustaceans. Scientifically known as Himantolophus sagamius, the California Academy of Sciences described the Pacific football fish as having “prickly skin, needle-sharp teeth, minuscule eyes, and a strange stalk on its head.” "The deep oceans are poorly sampled, so it's possible they are common at depth, we just don't know," Catania said in an email to Snopes.Īnglerfish are identified by their illicium, a long fleshy dorsal fin that extends past the front of the mouth and has a phosphorescent bulb (or esca) on the end to emit light and lure “unsuspecting prey.”
And though it's rare to have a fish of this species in a museum collection, California Academy of Science Curator of Ichthyology Dave Catania said that doesn't necessarily mean they are rare in the wild. The 18-inch fish was identified as a Pacific footballfish, a species of anglerfish that are normally found between 2,000 and 3,300 feet below the ocean surface.
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