Beautiful conditions during the 2015 Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupo'o, Tahiti. (Photo by Kelly Cestari/World Surf League via Getty Images)

1143130607

Beautiful conditions during the 2015 Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupo'o, Tahiti. (Photo by Kelly Cestari/World Surf League via Getty Images)

Photo by: Getty Images/Kelly Cestari

Getty Images/Kelly Cestari

Scientists Have Captured Video Footage of Mating Deep-Sea Anglerfish for the First Time

By: Joanie Faletto

Get a glimpse of this super secretive fish's mating ritual.

August 01, 2019

It's probably a little weird to get super jazzed about seeing fish mating. But when it's the unapologetically odd deep-sea anglerfish, it's a completely different story.

Photo by: Shutterstock

Shutterstock

Stage 5 Clinger

You might not know the name, but you definitely know the face. The anglerfish is that kind of blobby fish with a sharp-toothed frown and an illuminated lure than dangles just in front of its mouth. Due to the fact that navigating the deepest depths of the ocean is plagued by several obstacles, scientists have barely been able to observe live anglerfish in their natural habitats, much less two of them getting, er, friendly. But a video shot in 2016 and released in Science magazine in 2018 provides a stunning new insight: It's the first ever to show a sexually united pair of anglerfish.

And the way they mate is certainly unique. The big-mouthed, lure-dangling fish you picture in your head when you hear of an anglerfish is a female; the male is about one-tenth the size and looks relatively unremarkable. To mate, the male literally fuses himself onto the female, acting as a permanent sperm provider. Until now, we've never seen the unique copulation live, in action. "I've been studying these [animals] for most of my life and I've never seen anything like it," says Ted Pietsch, a deep-sea fish researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle. "So you can see how rare and important this discovery is. It was really a shocker for me."

Check out the oddly beautiful footage below:

VIDEO HERE

"Funny Form"

The video was shot by deep-sea explorers Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen at a depth of 800 meters (half a mile) in a submersible. They had been on a 5-hour dive near São Jorge Island when "something with a funny form" caught their attention, according to Kirsten. For the next 25 minutes, the pair followed around a 16-centimeter (6-inch) long anglerfish female in their submersible, capturing the creature on film. There are more than 160 species of anglerfish, and after the duo sent the footage to Pietsch, the fish was identified as the species as Caulophryne jordani, known as the fanfin angler. Pietsch was struck by the fish's unexpected gracefulness and also was surprised to note that the light at the ends of the fish's filaments may be bioluminescent, just like the main lure.

Another lesson gained from the footage involved the attached male fish (poor guy). Bruce Robison, a deep-sea ecologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, noted to Science magazine that the male, though permanently fused to the female's belly, was still surprisingly agile and flexible. "There's no way I would have ever guessed that from a [museum] specimen," he said. As technology advances, we can expect to continue learning about these bizarre creatures of the deep and see even more weird videos like this one.

This article first appeared on Curiosity.com.

Next Up

Most of What You Know About Daddy Longlegs Is Wrong

Daddy longlegs are one of the most venomous critters out there.

70% Of Earth's Fresh Water Is Frozen

Our freshwater is locked up in the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Almost Every Mammal Gets About 1 Billion Heartbeats

You only have a limited number of heartbeats in your life.

This Giant Mushroom Is the Largest Organism Ever

These fungi are larger than blue whales and dinosaurs!

Sperm Whales Are Loud Enough to Burst Your Eardrums

The world's loudest animal happens to live in the ocean.

Earthworms Aren't as Good for the Soil as You Think

Are worms really an invasive pest outside of the garden?

Octopuses Don't Have Tentacles!

What exactly do these cephalopods have then?

The Aztec Death Whistle Makes One of the Scariest Sounds You'll Ever Hear

If your worst nightmare had a soundtrack, it would feature this whistle.

These 5 Mythical Animals Turned Out to Be Real

Many animals people once believed these animals were imaginary.