The photos Beiler snapped show the fish’s knife-sharp teeth, spikes on its sides, and a projectile flowing out of its forehead. The creature is mostly found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.Ī professor of zoology, Johan Reinhardt, had first discovered the fish in 1837. Scientifically known as Himantolophidae, footballfish live in waters that are 3,000-4,000 feet deep. Later, when the photos were shared with scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, it was revealed that the creature was a Pacific footballfish. It’s the stuff of nightmares mouth almost looked bloody,”īeiler took photos of the creature before leaving the beach. ![]() “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. “I have never seen anything quite like this before,” Beiler told NBC 7 San Diego. In an interview with local media, Beiler said that the creature was large, and its length was about a foot. Jay Beiler initially thought it was a jellyfish, but when he had a closer look at the creature, he realised it was something completely different he had never seen before. “I think it’s a beautiful fish,” he said.A tourist accidentally took pictures of ultra-rare deep-sea fish often dubbed as “deep-sea monster” washed ashore at Black’s Beach in Torrey Pines in San Diego, California, U.S. Jay Beiler, who recently chanced upon one on Black’s Beach, told news outlets, “It’s the stuff of nightmares.” Follow the amazing journey of this recent discovery, from how beachgoers found it washed up on shore in May 2021 at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach, CA, to how it became part of our collections. Some find the fish’s appearance off-putting. This species of anglerfish, known as a Pacific footballfish, spends the majority of its life under thousands of feet of cold, dark water. They also have sharp teeth that angle inward in their mouth - ensuring that what goes in doesn’t come out. “They’re pretty much these spheres …covered in little spines,” which help ward off attacks from would-be predators. “They’re so much stockier” than other anglerfish, which come in many shapes and sizes, Frable said. (Anglerfish exhibit what’s known as extreme sexual dimorphism: The males are much smaller than their female counterparts.) It’s also one of the biggest species of anglerfish, with large females measuring about 12 to 15 inches. ![]() □ /0uykGvpy9a- Scripps Institution of Oceanography December 15, 2021 Scientists don’t know exactly what it eats, how it reproduces - or what might be driving the cluster of sightings.Įxperts don’t have any evidence to theorize why several deep-sea fish have washed ashore recently, but are interested in learning more about the specimens that have been collected, as well as any new ones that might wash up. The footballfish is a species of anglerfish, and is known to live in waters as deep as 3,000 feet (900 m) or 500 fathoms. Science Horrifying deep-sea ‘football fish’ washes up on California beach By Josh K. It has a wide range, extending from the coasts of Honshu (Gulf of Sagami) and Hokkaido islands through the Kuril-Kamchatka trough, in the northwest Pacific, to the eastern Pacific from California to Peru. With less than three dozen dead specimens available to study, very little is known about the fish that lives in depths of roughly 1,000 to 3,000 feet. The Pacific footballfish (Himantolophus sagamius) is a species found in the Pacific. ![]() They have discussed the curious occurrence, “but it’s hard to jump to any conclusions about why this is happening,” he said. The museum has four of the species in its collection, including one found by a beachgoer in Newport Beach in May.Įvery time one washes ashore, Ludt said, he’s inundated with calls from friends and colleagues. “It is very strange, and it’s the talk of the town among us California ichthyologists,” or zoologists who study fish, said Bill Ludt, assistant curator of ichthyology at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. One was photographed last month near Black’s Beach in La Jolla but disappeared - potentially carried back to sea - before scientists were notified. But in only the last year, three of the creatures have washed up on California beaches, doubling the number of sightings on record in the state. Only 31 collected specimens are known to exist in the world, and the fish has never been observed in the wild, Frable said.
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