WASHINGTON: Researchers say they’ve discovered a new and bizarre species of fish in the deepest ocean waters where sunlight never penetrates, a region home to some of the world’s strangest-looking sea creatures.
Looking like something from a Hollywood movie about mutant aliens, the new species of ceratioid anglerfish was found in the Gulf of Mexico, in waters between 3,200 and 4,900 feet deep.
Scientists refer to that as the “midnight zone,” where no sunlight reaches and the only light source is the bioluminescence of many marine species found living there.
The new species in the genus Lasiognathus Regan is what is commonly called an anglerfish, complete with a pole-like appendage growing from the top of its head.
“This fish dangles the appendage until an unsuspecting fish swims up thinking they found a meal, only to quickly learn that they are, in fact, a meal themselves,” the researchers from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said.
NSU researcher Tracey Sutton worked with University of Washington scientist Theodore Pietch to formally describe the new species in a study published in the journal Copeia, which carries research on fishes, reptiles and amphibians.
The unusual natural “fishing rod” is found on a number of species of ceratioid anglerfish, and scientists say they believe it probably evolved from a dorsal fin.
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