The oceans cover 70% of the planet, but only approximately 5% of it has been investigated by humans.
We still need to study a lot about the ocean because we don’t understand it very well.
Recently, a weird aquatic creature washed ashore on a beach in California, raising some intriguing concerns. Continue reading to find out more about what happened.
Many animals exist in the deep seas that have yet to be discovered.
Because the seas are so vast and deep, it would be practically impossible for humans to study them all, and as a result, we know very little about the ocean and the creatures that inhabit it.
The recent week’s discovery of a deep-sea mammal off the coast of California is just another illustration of how little we actually know about the ocean.
On October 13, a weird animal washed up at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach.
The California park referred to it as a Pacific footballfish in a Facebook post. The fish typically stays in deep, dark water and is hardly ever seen by humans because it lives in such a harsh habitat.
It said, “Guess who washed up just in time for Friday, the 13th? It’s angler fish #2 at Crystal Cove State Park!” The article continued by saying that in May 2021, a park visitor discovered the same species of angler fish, Pacific Football Fish, onshore, causing quite a buzz.
Two years later, the same species of fish washed up again last Friday, October 13th. “What does it all mean?” they asked in an alarming way, which made people think about how this could have happened.
According to the news release, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife took the strange-looking creature “for further research.”
“Over 200 species of anglerfish are known to live in oceans around the world,” the statement said. It also said, “only females possess a long stalk on the head with bioluminescent tips used as a lure to entice prey in pitch-black water as deep as 3,000 feet!”
The Anglerfish have teeth that look like “pointed shards of glass” and a huge mouth that lets them swallow food that is “the size of their own body,” according to the statement.
It’s interesting to see how they multiply. The females of the species can grow up to 24 inches long, while the boys only get an inch long. The sentence explained how they reproduced by saying that the males “latch onto the female with their teeth and become sexual parasites,’ eventually coalescing with the female until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction.”
This kind of fish being found on the shore is “very rare,” according to the park. The statement also said, “it is unknown how or why these fish ended up onshore.”
“Seeing this strange and fascinating fish is a testament to the curious diversity of marine life lurking below the water’s surface in California’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and as scientists continue to learn more about these deep sea creatures, it’s important to reflect on how much is still to be learned from our wonderful and mysterious ocean!” Crystal Cove concluded their post.
It’s interesting to think about how something that lives in the deep sea got to the shore.
A lot of questions are raised about why it might have moved to waters that aren’t as deep. All of this is still a mystery right now!
The park says that something similar happened two years ago.
The fish that was found in May 2021 is now at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
The ocean is interesting all around, and we still don’t know a lot about it! What do you think about how this creature looks on the shore?