Anglerfish belongs to the suborder Ceratioidei, the order Lophiiformes, which includes more than 100 species. It lives in the ocean column at depths from 1.5 to 3 km. Its body is spherical, flattened on the sides. The head is huge, occupying more than half of the total length. Mouth awesome, with long sharp
teeth. The bare skin is dark in color, spines and plaques are characteristic only for some species. The "fishing rod", which gave the name to the detachment, is the modified first ray of the fin located on the back. Only females have it.
It is believed that angler fish has ugly shapes with bulging eyes. The photo shows her after lifting from the depths. In her typical environment, she looks completely different. And we are evaluating the consequences of a huge pressure difference (250 atmospheres) in the water column and on the surface.
The deep-sea angler is an amazing creature. Females are hundreds of times larger than males. The females that we managed to catch and extract from sea water turned out to be in the range from 5 to 100 cm in length, and the males - from 1.6 to 5 cm. This is one of the manifestations of sexual dimorphism. The second is illitium, in the common people - the fishing rod of females. It is worth noting that it ends with a glowing due to
bioluminescent bacteria "bait". The angler fish is able to “turn it on and off” by constricting the vessels that feed the peculiar gland with blood. The length of the illium varies from species to species. For some, it can lengthen and shorten, luring the victim directly into the hunter's mouth.
The food of these fish is amazing. Females eat deep-sea fish, crustaceans, and occasionally mollusks. Their stomach can increase in size at times. There are cases when they swallowed victims much larger than themselves. Such greed led to death, because. the female was choking on her "lunch", but she could not let it out of herself, her long teeth were holding back. Males, given their small size, are available for copepods and chaetognaths.
Some species of anglerfish are characterized by male parasitism. This is manifested in the fact that the male, having found the female by pheromones, clings to her with his teeth, but can no longer detach. Over time, his jaws, teeth, intestines, eyes
lose the need to function, although before meeting her he was a full-fledged organism. Their blood vessels fuse, and as a result, the male becomes an appendage of the female, but capable of producing sperm. Sometimes several males can parasitize on one female individual at once.
Anglerfish breeds in spring and summer. Females spawn small eggs, males fertilize them. From a depth, the eggs float to the near-surface layer (up to 200 m), where moreopportunities to feed. This is where the larvae come in. By the time of metamorphosis, the grown juveniles descend to a depth of 1 km. After the transformation, the angler fish will go to even greater depths, where it will reach puberty and live its characteristic life.
Anglerfish is one of the manifestations of the diversity of the natural world. It is no coincidence that a wonderful way of existence that seems to us has been developed over the centuries. Much still remains unknown. Perhaps someday an explanation will be found.
