Friday Deep Sea Picture: The Extensible Anglerfish

I found this interesting picture illustrating how extensible the belly of the anglerfish is. They gulp more than their share in body weight! Quite a nice adaptation when you never know another meal will pass you by.

anglerfishsds.jpg

Culled from a classroom page at Warrensburg Schools in Missouri. Way to go learning about the deep sea!

5 Replies to “Friday Deep Sea Picture: The Extensible Anglerfish”

  1. There’s something else that might not come your way that often in the bathypelagic realm — a date. In the theme of “later nightmares”, remember that some of these deep-sea anglerfishes also have parasitic males that attach themselves to the much larger females and slowly become “reduced to little more than a pair of testicles.” (See the post at blogfish.com: http://blogfishx.blogspot.com/2007/02/parasitic-males.html)

    Happy Fish Fridays!

  2. Thats hilarious Dave! I was working on a song today about parasitic deep sea angler fish males! What a coincidence lol

    I was thinking of calling it “I am male hear me roar” set to the song “I am woman hear me roar” by reddy helen *lolz* about a parasitic male that wants tired of being ignored and made to feel worthless!

  3. Yay!!! Anglerfishes, at last!!!! For those of you who (like me) find these fishes fasinating, a heads-up. Ted Pietsch, the greatest living taxonomist and researcher on this group, has a book on them coming out at the end of the year. THE definitative account of what is known to date – species, reproduction and a whole heap more. YES………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can’t wait that long – check out the journal ‘Ichthyological Research’ 2005 vol 52, pages 207 to 236 for Ted’s fantastic paper titled:
    “Dimorphism, paratism, and sex revisited: modes of reproduction among deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes)” Enjoy :-)

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