14 DAY TRIAL // Forget the Kraken, the Hydra or any other fictional sea monsters for that matter. There are plenty other wacky creatures populating our planet's seas and oceans, and what makes them scary is the fact that they are very much real.
The anglerfish, otherwise known as the black seadevil, is one such positively bizarre marine dweller that is bound to give people nightmares and make them want to run for the hills screaming.
On the bright side, anglerfish are by no means what some would call sociable beings. They live in the deep ocean and very rarely show their face in public. Hence the fact that, when one was filmed by researchers earlier this year, the video went viral.
A very rare sight indeed
This most recent footage of an anglerfish swimming around in the ocean was obtained by scientists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, US, with the help of a remotely operated vehicle.
Interestingly enough, the wildlife researchers weren't even looking to film such an odd creature at the time their remotely operated vehicle came across the anglerfish.
On the contrary, they were merely exploring the Monterey Canyon, a submarine canyon that begins at Moss Landing in California and extends some 95 miles (153 kilometers) into the Pacific Ocean, Live Science informs.
It is understood that the black seadevil featured in the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute video available below was swimming at a depth of nearly 2,000 feet (roughly 600 meters) when it crossed paths with the remotely operated vehicle.
Having filmed the creature in its natural habitat, the researchers captured the creature and brought it back to shore with them. The anglerfish, which measures just 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) in length, is now kept in a tank.
Some of the weirdest creatures ever
Together with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute footage, the photos in the gallery below stand as proof that anglerfish are, if we may be so bold as to phrase it this way, downright hideous.
They sport very long teeth that very much resemble needles and that are specifically designed to cut into the flesh of the creatures these marine dwellers like to feast on. Besides, they have an odd, fleshy appendage adorning their head.
The fleshy appendage ends in a luminous bulb. According to wildlife researchers, this bulb serves to attract fish or squid, thus making it easier for these so-called black seadevils to secure their next meal in the darkness of the deep ocean.
What's interesting is that it's only the females belonging to this species that can look after themselves and survive on their own. The males, on the other hand, lead very sad lives.
Thus, researchers say that, after spending a while swimming around, they attach themselves to a lady. In time, the two fuse together and the male becomes no more and no less than an appendage for the female. When the time is right, the female accesses its gametes and a new generation is born.
Even sadder, is appears that, even if they wanted to, male anglerfish can't swear off romance forever and live their entire life as bachelors. This is because they don't have any fleshy appendage to attract prey with and are, therefore, bound to starve in the absence of a female.
