TLDR: This creature of nightmares is the pacific football fish. Here are some interesting facts about it!
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I was browsing YouTube when this meme showed up about a creature of nightmares. I did a little more reading, and here’s what I found out. Like always, I did include the link to my source, so you can learn more!
This is the Pacific Footballfish. It’s a species of deep sea angler fish that live in the Pacific Ocean. Typically these fish live at a depth of 2,000 – 3,000 feet, where “the sunlight doesn’t penetrate” which is a fancy way of saying that it is too deep for the sunlight to reach it. It’s pitch black where this fish lives, which is why it’s a really crazy occurrence to find one washed ashore.
To put it into perspective, the angler fish lives at a depth that is deeper than the wreck of the RMS Titanic!
Link: https://www.worldatlas.com/amp/articles/the-5-layers-of-the-ocean.html
Like the article in the screenshot said, Because there is no light the angler fish has developed a unique way of catching prey. There is a bioluminescent light on the top of their heads, and they light it up, which attracts other fish over to it. Then they eat them. You might remember something like this from the film “Finding Nemo.”
I believe we can all agree that angler fish are terrifying.
The football fish gets its name from its football shape. They can get HUGE. They can grow up to 3ft long (1 yard) and weigh up to 110lbs (50kg)! That is one big ass, terrifying fish.
Everyone has their kink. The football fish has a parasitic fetish going on. That might mean that the specimen they found was female, since it’s quite lumpy. But I don’t know for sure. What I do know, is that angler fish are extremely fascinating deep sea creatures, and utterly terrifying.
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Link: https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/pacific-footballfish
Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me in how beautiful and horrifying her creations can be!