Alien-Looking Rare Footballfish, Seen Only Around 30 Times By Humans, Washes Ashore On US Beach
A strange-looking creature that washed ashore recently on Cannon Beach in the US state of Oregon is a Pacific footballfish, a local aquarium has said. According to the Seaside Aquarium, the deep-sea anglerfish, called Pacific footballfish (Himantolophus sagamius), was found by local beachcombers earlier this month.
Lives?at depths of 2,000-3,300 feet
The Pacific footballfish is extremely rare and lives in complete darkness at depths of 2,000-3,300 feet in the ocean.?According to the Seaside Aquarium, it is so rare that?it has never been seen alive by humans.
Only 31 recorded sightings?
"Only 31 specimens have been recorded around the world. While a handful of footballfish have?been recorded?in New Zealand, Japan, Russia, Hawaii, Ecuador, Chile, and California, this is the first one reported on the Oregon Coast to our knowledge," the aquarium said.
Also read:?This Fisherman's Collection Of Rare Sea Creatures Has To Be Seen
How they hunt
The 'Finding Nemo-like' creature lives in the dark and uses light that shines from a phosphorescent bulb on its forehead to attract prey.
"Like other anglerfish, they use light that shines from a phosphorescent bulb on their forehead to attract prey.?Food at the depths?that?these guys peruse can be very sparse, so footballfish are not picky?eaters.?They eat anything that can fit into their mouths," it said.
According to the California Academy of Sciences, male footballfish "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."
Also read:?Sailors Found A Rare Fish With The Body Of A Shark And Face Of A Pig
Where did it come from
Like everyone else, experts at the Seaside Aquarium are also clueless about how and why the fish washed up on the beach in the first place.
"There is no theory on why the fish washed up," experts at the aquarium told Fox News, adding that it was not collected and studied.
"The folks who found the fish wanted it to become part of the natural lifecycle and asked that we respectfully leave it on the beach," they said.
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