This would happen with Halloween right around the corner. Personally, I’m genuinely terrified to know what kind of freaky looking creatures could be living deep down in the ocean… and I grew up in South Carolina, not all that far from the ocean and places like Myrtle Beach.
There’s so much of the ocean that hasn’t been studied, since us humans haven’t discovered the technology to survive the pressure of insane depths of the ocean. However, every now and then an insane looking creature will wash up on shore, giving us an idea of just how mind boggling the depths of the ocean can be… and here’s Exhibit A.
According to BroBible, this one washed up on the shore of Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County, California, located right in between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. You know, those beach towns from that show, The OC.
Dubbed the Pacific Footballfish, it’s a species of the terrifying looking angler fish. You know, the crazy looking fish with massive teeth and a light at the end of a line that dangles from the top of their head.
Ironically enough, this “Footballfish” made its appearance on Friday the 13th.
Crystal Cove State Park wrote in a Facebook post:
“Guess who washed up just in time for Friday the 13th? It’s angler fish #2 at Crystal Cove State Park! In May of 2021 the same species of angler fish, Pacific Football Fish, was found onshore by a park visitor creating quite the buzz. Two years later the same species of fish has washed up again last Friday, October 13th. What does it all mean?
The fish was picked up by California Department of Fish and Wildlife @californiadfw for further research. The angler fish that washed up two years ago is housed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
There are more than 200 species of angler fish worldwide and this particular fish is most likely the Pacific Football Fish. Only females possess a long stalk on the head with bioluminescent tips used as a lure to entice prey in pitch black water as deep as 3,000 feet! Their teeth, like pointed shards of glass, are transparent and their large mouth is capable of sucking up and swallowing prey the size of their own body.
While females can reach lengths of 24 inches males only grow to be about an inch long and their sole purpose is to find a female and help her reproduce. Males latch onto the female with their teeth and become “sexual parasites,” eventually coalescing with the female until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction.
To see an actual angler fish intact is very rare and it is unknown how or why these fish ended up onshore. Seeing this strange and fascinating fish is a testament to the curious diversity of marine life lurking below the water’s surface in California’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and as scientists continue to learn more about these deep sea creatures it’s important to reflect on how much is still to be learned from our wonderful and mysterious ocean!”
Gnarly looking creature, eh?
