Week One, Year Two: Angler Fish

Common Name: Triple-Wart Sea Devil Angler Fish

Scientific Name: Cryptopasaras couesi

Fun Fact: The bioluminescent lure dangling from a female anglerfish’s forehead is lit by millions of resident bacteria, which produce the natural light.

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Lophiiformes

The above taxonomy and below sections describe all anglerfish. The following taxonomy deals with the triple-wart sea devil anglerfish in particular.

Family: Ceratiidae

Genus: Cryptopasaras

Species: C. couesi

Description: An anglerfish is a bulbous-bodied deep sea fish. It possesses a gaping mouth filled with long, razor-sharp teeth that prevent it from fully closing its lips. The anglerfish is usually colored dark reddish brown. The female of the species is much larger than the male and features a protrusion of fleshy spine tissue from its forehead which ends in a bioluminescent “lure”. Adult anglerfish can grow from eight inches to more than three feet in length and weigh up to 110 pounds.

Environment: Anglerfish live in the abyss, the deepest level of the ocean. All of their characteristics have evolved over time to suite this unusual, lightless, cold, and nearly barren habitat.

Reproduction & Development: Because of the difficulty of finding mates in the abyss, the male anglerfish latches onto the first female he finds using his teeth. For the rest of his life, he will rely on her bloodstream for nutrients. His bloodstream fuses with hers, and over time his body and internal organs will dissolve until he has been entirely absorbed by the female. More than six males may perform this process with any individual female anglerfish. The number of males affects the number of fertilized eggs the female may produce.

Nutrition: Anglerfish are carnivorous and feed on almost any prey they can find in their desolate environment. The female’s glowing lure is used to attract fish, which swim toward the light hanging from the anglerfish’s forehead and are devoured by the mouth beneath. This mouth is so large in comparison to the rest of the fish’s body that it may swallow prey up to twice its body size.