“Unusually fascinating” footballfish that glows deep beneath the sea washes up on Oregon coast in rare sighting

An “exceptionally fascinating” fish known for emitting a bioluminescent glow thousands of feet below the ocean surface has washed up off the Oregon coast. A local aquarium that posted about the fish said that only dozens of fish have been recorded and that this may be the first sighting of such an specimen in the state.

The unusual creature is a Pacific footballfish, which, according to the Seaside Aquarium, is a type of deep-sea fisherman that typically lives between 2,000 and 3,300 feet below sea level. The football fish, similar to the one depicted in the Disney film “Finding Nemo,” generally lives in total darkness and is “rarely seen,” the aquarium said, adding that only 31 of the animals have been recorded worldwide. This was found in Cannon Beach, about 80 miles west of Portland.

“This is the first reported off the Oregon coast to our knowledge,” the aquarium said. “Little is known about his life story, but what is known is extraordinarily fascinating.”

According to the National History Museums of Los Angeles County, which acquired your own specimen of Pacific footballfish In 2021, the fish are known to possess a bioluminescent lure that comes out of the top of their heads to attract prey. The 2021 discovery revealed that the bait is not only bioluminescent, meaning it emits light through a bodily reaction, but biofluorescent, which means it generates its light from an external source. The latter’s revelation intrigued researchers, as the fish lives in ocean depths that do not receive light.

“What appears to be happening is that the light produced by the bioluminescent bait (which occurs due to bioluminescent bacteria) is enabling this biofluorescence. We think that the combination of bioluminescence and biofluorescence in deep-sea animals is extremely rare, as it has only been documented in a few species (another group of deep-sea fish other than anglerfish, a jellyfish and a siphonophore),” he said. the museum’s curator of ichthyology, William Ludt. “However, this discovery suggests that it may be more common than we think, and that it simply goes unexamined because researchers assume that fluorescence is not occurring due to the lack of light at depth. of the oceans.”

Oregon’s Seaside Aquarium said the fish “will eat anything that fits in their mouths.” Hunting is left to female footballfish, they added, as males “are actually more parasite-like.”

“Males are 10 times smaller than females and find a female to fuse with,” the museum said. “They lose their eyes and internal organs, obtaining all their nutrients from their partners. In return, they provide women with a constant source of sperm.”