Angler Fish : A Fish with a hell of a face!

The horrifying looks of this fish might give you chills. Yes, these type of fishes exists which might get your attention and interest, not because of how they look but because of how they live their lifestyle. This mysterious creatures live in the deep parts of ocean and are very rare to found on the upper surface levels of the water bodies. Unlike most of the other sea creatures, their male and female counterparts look totally different and have completely different behavior and nature. Their traits and abilities make them one of the most interesting and unique sea creatures in the world. Their are around 200+ species for angler fish on the planet.

Note: By saying just "Angler Fish", i am referring to the male counter part of the angler fish.

Lophiiformes (Angler Fish)

Physical overview and structure

This creature has a big head on it's body and a wide mouth and jaw structure. They are generally in light black, dark gray or brown in color. Their size can vary from a length of less than a foot(less than 0.3048 meters) to 3.3 ft (~ 1 meter). Also their weight can be up to 110 pounds (~ 50 kg). The main attraction among it's physical features is the antenna or rod like structure equipped with an luminous flesh on the top. This is due to the glowing bacteria inside the flesh of the pole like structured part. It is used to attract the prey towards it's mouth. An angler fish mouth can be spread widely to adjust in order to adjust according to size of it's prey. Speaking of size, an angler fish can eat a prey of twice the size of the it's own size. Also, their prey mainly consists of shrimps, crabs and small fishes and small squids.

Quick General info

Angler Fish is a carnivorous fish. The exact life span of angler fish is still unknown although some researcher claims that these creatures can live up to 30 years. Their body dust not require high amount of energy and nutrition to carry out metabolic activities. This is because these fish lives in energy poor environment in the deep parts of oceans and seas. They are not deadly but are quite aggressive in nature and can attack humans if disturbed. A not so accurate speed of these creatures has been recorded which is around 0.24 body lengths per second.

Different species of angler fish show different characteristics. Like, their are some species of angler fish which are bio-luminescent in nature, means their body act as an independent light source.

As far the reproduction the reproduction process goes, this is main point which makes these creatures look truly weird and horrifying.

Male Angler Fish

The male angler fish are have generally a very small fish like structure with a length of roughly between 6 to 7 millimeters and does not reach the stage of maturity until they complete their reproduction cycle. Technically, their life cycle becomes over as soon as they completes their reproduction cycle with the female. Long story short, theirs not really much to say about the male counterparts of Angler Fish as they are only born to help the female angler fish to fertilize the eggs.

Reproduction

The reproduction process of angler fish is one of the most weird yet unique processes in the animal kingdom. As far the mating process goes, the female do not have to wander around in the deep sea bottom to find male for mating. Instead the female angler fish releases a trail of pheromone to attract the males to itself. Once the male angles fish senses the trail, it chases the female and get attached to it's body with the help of  it's teeth and releasing an enzyme and get permanently attached to the female for life. During this process the male permanently becomes a part of the female body and consumes the required nutrients through the blood stream of the female. After getting attached, the reproductive cells in the male are then activated to complete the the reproduction cycle and ultimately the female eggs are now finally fertilized. A female angler fish can carry up to 6 males on it's body at a time.

 

In a single spawning, the female angler fish can lay more than 1 million eggs. Females lay their eggs on gel like sheet which is about 2-3 feet wide (~ 0.6- 0.9 meters) in width and about 30 feet (9.144 meters) in length. From the depth of nearly 3000 feet (~915 meters), this thin layer of gel like sheet wander in the size until the eggs are ready to hatch. Once the eggs are hatched, the larvae/baby angler fish floats to the surface level and feeds themselves on small organisms called Planktons.

Facts and summary

• Their are more than 200 species of angler fish with every specie having different set of characteristics, size and color.

• Warty Sea devils are the largest angler fish specie and can attain a size between 2.5 feet to 3.3 feet (0.762 meter to 1 meter) in length. 

• They reproduce using male angler fish bodies by fusing into their flesh.

• They main physical highlight of the angler fish is the bioluminescence piece of flesh on the top of it's head attached to spine like structure. produce the light due to the bacteria inside it and because of this it is used for attracting prey easily in the deep bottom of the water body where the light from the sun can not reach.

• Their are spots on the face of the female angler fish which allow them to sense movements in the deep bottom water.

• Their name "angler fish" is set like this name represents the method for hunting their prey since the word "angler" means a person who fishes with a rod and line. Since it also uses the rod like structure to catch it's prey, this name is perfect for it.

• Angler Fish catches the attention of scientists in 1883 when a body of fish with scary looking face was found on the shores of Greenland.

• Most of the specimen of angler fish (50%-60%) analysed by the scientist were found with their stomachs empty. According to them it conclude that the most variety of angler fish require less energy for the functioning of their body.

• Researchers claims the angler fish came into existence somewhere between 100 and 130 million years ago and are living since then on this planet. So yeah, we can call them ancients.

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