By: Kelsey Jackson

The anglerfish is an alien on our own planet. It has a long rod of bone on its head that it uses to lure in prey. They live all over the world and even in the abyss. Some glow others just camouflage. There is one species never been photographed. It has teeth so big it can’t close its mouth. The anglerfish draws in its prey with an eerie glow which soon becomes the last light it will ever sea.

All anglers hunt in different ways. One way is that they use a piece of flesh on the end of the bony rod. To other fish the flesh looks like a snack.

The angler “reels” it in and the fish becomes the snack. Another way is that the species in the deep use a glowing orb to draw in food, the orb is filled with glowing bacteria. The prey follows the light until it is close enough to get eaten by the angler. The last way some anglerfish hunt is by laying completely still on the sea floor. Anglers eat many things. Shrimp, fish, crustaceans, squid, urchins, and smaller anglers in the deep sea are just some things an angler will eat. They also scavenge for food along the ocean floor. They are eaten by a variety of things to. Giant squid, jellyfish, and fangtooths have the angler on the menu.

The anglerfish is a ferocious hunter if prey is smart enough to stay away the anglerfish will change tactics and chase the fish until it catches it or runs out of energy.

Bioluminescence is a big part of some anglerfish’s life. Deep sea species use this organic light to hunt. Others use it to escape its predators.

Bioluminescence is a biological conversation which has two meanings. One is that two organisms work together in order to survive, and two is that to chemicals produced by the body mix together to illuminate the surrounding area. The most common colors of this eerie glow are green or turquoise, but in some rare cases the color is red.

Some people may say “What are anglerfish?” All you have to say is that they are fish with a bony rod on their head. This rod is how anglerfish are classified. They can live all around the world. They most common kind of anglerfish is the Mediterranean frogfish. Scientist have seen many anglerfish and they all have a bony rod coming off their head. At the end of each rod there is either one of two things. One is a piece of flesh that looks like food to other fish. The other thing that could be at the end of the rod is a bulbous orb that is filled with glowing bacteria. They also have razor sharp teeth that are like daggers.

Some may look like under water plants or coral. They sometimes even change color based on there emotions but that is very rare.

Scientist know a lot about anglers but where did it start? The first angler was discovered by Aristotle. He gave them the name frogfish due to the fins that looked like legs holding the fish in place on a rock. Fishermen who are sometimes called anglers gave the fish its name due to the rod on its head that looks like a fishing pole. They can grow from 1in to 6ft. They can also range in color from rainbow to a drab grey to a dark menacing black.