This is what got Tom really excited – it’s the larval stage of a deep sea angler fish. These are fish that live at about 1000 metres deep, and they have a ‘fishing line’ with a light on it that sticks off the top of their head and they waggle it around to attract fish that they can grab and eat. At the larval stage, however, they look like a baby fish in a plastic bag! This one is only 6 millimetres long, and it’s photographed on a yellow lid (sorry it’s a little out of focus but it was a pretty small thing to try and photograph!)
In other news … we are still diving around the Princes group. The weather forecast is showing a front coming through on Sunday night so we’ll have to be tucked in next to Great Island by then, as this anchorage is a bit exposed. It roughed up a bit last night, and a couple of us were feeling a little off-colour – obviously all that calm weather hadn’t given us our sea legs!
One Response to “When is a deep sea angler fish not a deep sea angler fish?”
aimee w
Fantastic! And this seems a perfect time to point out Ze Frank’s wonderful ‘True Facts’ series – this link goes to his episode on the angler fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-BbpaNXbxg
More marvellous science communication
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