Anglerfish First Footage: Mysterious Anglerfish Recorded For The First Time Ever [Video]

The first footage of the Anglerfish has been caught by researchers in Monterey Bay, California. According to the Monterey County Weekly, the ugly-looking creature was captured on film for the very first time thanks to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that was sent in to the deep ocean waters. Previously only seen in cartoons (like Finding Nemo), many people are interested in getting a closer look at this weird creature. Many are clearly fascinated by the rare footage, and the video is getting loads of attention on the internet this week.

“The footage was captured Nov. 17 by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s ROV Doc Ricketts at a depth of 2,000 feet, and researchers were able to capture the fish for further study, though it is not expected to live,” reports the Monterey County Weekly.

The Anglerfish appears in the first footage by itself, but researchers believe that there could be plenty more of the species in that particular area.

“It’s really hard to keep these things alive in captivity. The deep sea is such a huge place. There might be thousands out there, and we’re only looking at a very small part of it,” said MBARI spokesperson Kim Fulton-Bennett.

According to Pete Thomas Outdoors, the Anglerfish is not only rare, but rather curious. It has a very unique physical appearance, and has a strange way of luring food.

“The small but scary-looking fish is named because of the manner by which it feeds: by dangling the luminescent tip at the end of a ‘fishing pole’ projecting from its head, and using the ‘glowing lure’ to attract unsuspecting prey,” Pete Thomas Outdoors reports.

Strange sea creatures have been in the news quite a bit lately. In fact, a large shark even bigger than the legendary Megalodon might be lurking in New Zealand. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, “The Submarine” shark is also known as the “modern Megalodon,” and is more than likely a continuation of the infamous Shark Week hoax. However, there are some extremely large sharks in the waters off New Zealand, and some people wonder if there could be such a thing as “The Submarine” shark.

“I spoke with a lot of fishermen and locals about what sharks are up to in the area. Many of them were telling me about a huge shark they would see on occasion. One man even stated he felt it was well over 30 feet long [9.4m]. We wanted to come out and see what was going on in these waters and whether it was true or just a legend. The best way to do that is to go down in our cages and look around,” said shark expert Jeff Kurr.

If you don’t believe in that sort of thing, the Anglerfish video is pretty legit.

[Photo courtesy of Nature.ca]