So the other night, my son asks me about this fish he saw in Finding Nemo. Normally I might not share such a tale, because it’s probably only memorable to our family – but the answers found from this innocent question were pretty impressive indeed.
You see, the alleged fish has a light on it’s head and huge fangs. I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of such a beast. In fact, I thought it sounded like someone had been having a little fun in the animation room. I even made the mistake of mentioning that it might not be completely real!
You can imagine my surprise when I finally found a picture of the fish in question. That’s a freaky fish indeed, and it seems that very little imagination would be necessary to get this fellow looking like a scary fish!
So I looked around some more and found all sorts of information, including this little tidbit that seems to provide all the information you might need (sorry, link died). You see, apparently this vicious beast is the female of the species! And you thought human women were bad! Luckily they only live at depths of 1,600 to 10,000 feet!
The luminous organ on her head actually attracts her prey. She can vibrate the thing, too, presumably to attract prey if they’re blind. The worst part is that the male of the species lives only to bond himself to the body of the female and provide his seed so that the species may continue. He’s also a lot smaller and not quite as strange looking!
Comments
215 responses to “The Angler Fish”
To the poster above asking about hotheads in Antarctica – they do not exist.
The hotheads were invented as an April Fool’s joke in Discover magazine (April 1995). The article was titled “Hotheaded Naked Ice Borer”. The newly discovered creatures were supposed to have a bony headplate with innumerable blood vessels radiating tremendous body heat to create a hotplate effect that melted ice. The “hotheads” supposedly traveled in packs searching for shadows below thin ice – their favorite prey was penguin. The hothead pack would then gather together under the shadow (presumably a penguin) to melt the ice & consume the prey that fell through the slushy hole. The article claimed that a biologist named Aprile Pazzo in Antarctica discovered the new species. Aprile Pazzo can be loosely translated from Italian as “April Fool”.
Discover received a tremendous response to this hoax article. Some of the letters to the editor in response to the article were utterly hilarious 🙂 Here is a link to the article & letters you can copy & paste: http://nac.tamu.edu/x075bb/discover/fool95.html
This is a great site. I learned a lot about many different species of fish. I was wondering if anyone had heard of a fish that lives under the ice and can melt the ice with it’s head..by doing this the prey falls in the water to be eaten. I had heard of this quite a long time ago, but can’t find any info what so ever about it. I think I heard it being called A Hot Head and possibly being found in Antarctica. If anyone could tell me if this species is real or not and give me a link if you find one, I’d be so grateful!
The fish in the movie has to be a mix of the angler and the Viper. First, it has a lure, so do both the angler and the viper, second, when Marlin and Dory swimm up to the mouth the fish lights up along its back, only a viper does that, third, the fish chases them, the viper will chase its prey but the angler wont, fourth, the teeth resemble that of a viper fish, and fifth, they body and eyes represent the angler more. I think that the cartoonists were going to make an angler fish but one found a picture of a viper fish and mistook it for a angler fish.
Dudes, check out the Finding Nemo DVD. They say it’s an Anglerfish. it may not look like it 2 u, but that’s what they ment it 2 b.
I would recommend this website to all my friends I am extremely impressed by all the facts. I am 12 and I am now very interested by the Angler fish from watching Finding Nemo.
umm.. i dont know why these stupid people keep saying that fish in finding nemo was a viperfish. its scientifically impossible, u idiots. try researching on the internet for about a minute and u will see. and theres no way it could be both a viperfish and a deep sea angler. its just an angler. and dont try posting back to me cuz ill never look at this site again. just get over urselves.
anyways, nice pic of the fangtooth. =)
Wow I’m not sure if I write this if it will ever be seen 🙂 But I think your site is very cool and I was very interested in the fish after seeing Nemo as well. But the one thing I would like to know is, is it even possable to catch this fish or even have it in an aquarium? And yes I know it’s a stupid question so to anyone keep your rude comments to yourself, because no I’m the brightest crayon in the box, I already know that I am the Dory in my family 🙂 But thanks again for the site it gave me all the info I needed, and some laughs for the day too, it’s amazing have flustered people can get over little things but I thought it was great keep up the good work 😉
i think that the fish in nemo was in fact both viper and angle.i have seen pitcures of both fish and they look just like the fish in nemo.anyways this was a really useful site for me to do a report in my class so please post more info if you can!^_^
Thanks for the great information! My 6 year old was asking about the “Scary fish” in Finding Nemo, so I came across this site while searching for some pictures to show him!! Very informative and great pictures! 🙂
hey this is a cool site.