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Beachcombers Discover Rare, DeepSea Anglerfish Washed Up on Oregon Coast
Beachcombers Discover Rare, Deep-Sea Anglerfish Washed Up on Oregon Coast. (Smithsonian Magazine.) Most humans will never see a Pacific footballfish, as the creatures live at depths of 2000 to 3300 feet below the ocean's surface.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Jul 01, 2024 at 8:33 PM
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Oh wow, that's wild. I know Cannon Beach a little bit (went out there for a nice weekend last year) but don't really know what to say about this other than hey, that's wild.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:48 PM
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Very cool! But:
The Pacific footballfish will be left on the beach, per the finders' wishes that it remain in the natural environment, reports the Oregonian's Lizzy Acker.
"The person who found it didn't want to let us have it to preserve it," Keith Chandler, the aquarium's general manager, tells USA Today's Julia Gomez.
Uh, do the finders get to decide that? I know "finders keepers" is a long standing precedent, but if they're not even going to keep it...
posted by ejs at 9:57 PM
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So, I read the article and another it links to, and the description of what happens to the male footballfish is definitely interesting:
"The males of some anglerfish species, including the football fish, have evolved into "sexual parasites." Using well-developed olfactory organs, they find and fuse themselves to females, eventually losing their eyes, internal organs, and everything else but the testes. The male becomes a permanent appendage that draws nutrition from its female host and serves as an easily accessible source of sperm."
Now, that'll make you think. That's a hell of a situation to end up in.
posted by cybrcamper at 10:05 PM
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'One' is the correct number of mouths, perfect for the amounts of food you have available at that depth. They know that.
posted by Ashenmote at 11:20 PM
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Now, that'll make you think. That's a hell of a situation to end up in.
I've seen human relationships that weren't that far off. Friends that used to be a lot of fun, in fact. But their host partner really wasn't ok with that kind of thing. It was sad, but they said it was love...
posted by Smedly, Butlerian jihadi at 3:55 AM
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Super sad. More and more of the deep is revealing itself, at the surface.
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:37 AM
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Ze Frank's True Facts About the Anglerfish is a 2 minute video that is hilarious and educational. I recommend it.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:31 AM
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I live 26 miles from Cannon Beach. In the last year, within 30 miles of my house there have been:
A deep sea anglerfish
A cougar on Haystack Rock
Several dead whales
A very rare bird
a giant mola mola
Have I seen any of these things? Except two whales in 2023, no, no I have not. I have, however, seen innumerable bald eagles, cormorants, geese, common murres, sanderlings, plovers, sea lions, harbor seals, arctic terns, two otters, a beaver and, of course, infinite seagulls. So I win. Although honestly, a dead whale is a Thing to See. It really is.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:21 AM
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"It's not clear why this Pacific footballfish washed up on the sand in Oregon or what caused its death."
Some kind of reverse Titan submarine mission, I bet.
posted by booth at 10:26 AM
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