Nature
PUBLISHED
Beachcombers just south of Cannon Beach, Oregon, came across a Pacific footballfish (Himantoliphus sagamius) washed up on the shore. While this might look like a monster from the deep – and in fact it is – Pacific footballfish sightings and specimens are extremely rare.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Seaside Aquarium shared the news on their Facebook page, writing that “only 31 specimens have been recorded around the world.” The footballfish is one of over 300 species of anglerfish that live in the deep ocean. It is thought that H. sagamius lives in almost total darkness at 609-914 meters deep (2,000-3,000 feet).
The specimen on the beach is a female. Male anglerfish can be around 10 times smaller than females and are what is known as sexual parasites. The males fuse themselves to the females, eventually losing their internal organs and becoming just a pair of testes attached to the female, write the California Academy Of Sciences.
From the top of the female's head protrudes a modified fin called the illicium that ends in a light-producing bulb called the esca. The esca contains light-producing bacteria that act as a lure, drawing other deep-sea creatures such as crustaceans, squid, and other fish closer to her waiting mouth.
The aquarium goes on to say that “ this is the first [footballfish] reported on the Oregon Coast to our knowledge”. Last year in October 2023, the same species of marine monster washed up on the shores of Crystal Cove State Park in California, while three washed up in a single year in 2021.
5