First-Ever Footage of Deep-Sea Anglerfish Mating Pair

A mating pair of deep-sea anglerfish has been filmed in the wild for the first time at a depth of 2,600 feet (800 metres). The species is a fanfin sea devil—Caulophryne jordani. The larger anglerfish is the female. Its long, flowing spines help it sense the prey that it lures in.

When a tiny male finds a mate, it bites on, and stays—a parasite. Their tissues fuse. The male loses much of his body. He gets nutrients from the female’s blood, and will be at the ready for spawning. No one had ever seen a living pair. Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen made the discovery while surveying diverse sea life of the Azores, a volcanic island chain of Portugal in the mid-Atlantic.