A rare find that will surely help scientific research on marine animals.
The almost intact body of a fish living in the oceanic depths recently washed up on a beach in California.
It is about a football fish (or
Himantolophus
), a frightening sea creature that evolves several hundred meters below sea level, in the abyssal depths, CBS reported on Wednesday.
The undamaged corpse washed up on a coast in Crystal Cove Park, which shared images on Facebook.
Females 30 times larger than males
The specimen has a bioluminescent peduncle on the forehead.
Only females of this species have them in order to attract their prey in the dark, explains the park relayed by the
HuffPost
.
"Their teeth, sharp like shards of glass, are transparent and their wide mouths are capable of swallowing prey the size of their body", specifies the publication to complete the frightening picture.
The size of the stranded fish unhesitatingly confirms its sex.
In fact, in this species, females can measure up to 60 cm while males barely reach 2 cm.
These are only "sexual parasites", which cling to the female and eventually merge with them to promote reproduction.
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