11-02-2025
Rare Deepsea Fish Captured for First Time Live on Camera
Scientists have captured an extremely rare fish on camera for the first time in broad daylight, Oceanographic Magazine reported.
Workers conducting shark research for the NGO Condrik came across a most unexpected site earlier this month when they encountered an adult abyssal humpback anglerfish, known as Melanocetus johnsonii, off the coast of Tenerife. The remarkably rare fish are hardly ever seen, but when they are it is typically at depths between 656 and 6,561 feet. This particular angler fish, however, was seen near the surface, which makes it the first time the species has ever been glimpsed in broad daylight. Sadly, the fish died shortly after it was discovered.'We were returning to port when I saw something black in the water that didn't look like plastic or debris,' Laia Valor, a marine biologist working on the shark expedition, told EFE News Agency. 'It seemed unusual. We spent a couple of hours with it. It was in poor condition and only survived for a few hours.'Photographer David Jara Boguñá was lucky enough to capture the astonishing sight of the living fish in the short time before it perished. Previous images of the species have been obtained only through vague submarine photos, carcasses, or larvae. It's unknown why this anglerfish decided to graze the surface, but the species has been known during El Niño to rise from their depths into the cooler water.
'There could be thousands of reasons why it was there,' Valor explained. 'We simply don't know. It's an extremely rare and isolated sighting. While we can't say it never happens, if it were more common, we would see it more frequently. This could very well be the first time it has ever been filmed in these conditions.'
