Six hundred meters down in Monterey Submarine Canyon, off the coast of California, a ROV from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute captured this incredibly rare video footage of a 9 cm long, female Deep-Sea Anglerfish, specifically a Melanocetus or Black Seadevil. MBARI Senior Scientist Bruce Robison reports, “We believe that this is the first video footage ever made of this species alive and at depth.”
Slow-moving and tiny-eyed, this elusive fish is an ambush predator, using its bioluminescent lure to attract unsuspecting prey before inhaling them into its large, tooth-filled mouth.
Watch this next: 3D scanning an anglerfish’s final meal.
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