WATCH the moment a terrifying Devil Fish that normally lurks 6,000ft down in total darkness is filmed for the first time near a holiday island.
The ghoulish fish was spotted bobbing near the sea’s surface just two kilometres from the Spanish island Tenerife.
The terrifying fish was caught on camera in daylight for the first time ever[/caption]
It was spotted by a group of biologists near San Juan Beach, Tenerife[/caption]
Until now, adults of the species had only been seen dead or through submarine images[/caption]
A video posted to social media shows the menacing blob cutting a dark shape against the bright blue water.
Its translucent tail fans and wafts, gently propelling it through the ocean.
Most striking is the creature’s enormous under-bite, forming an up-turned mouth crammed full of dagger-like teeth.
Beams of sunlight ripple across the body, illuminating the cavernous mouth and the bioluminescent lamp hanging above its head.
This bacteria-powered light source lures prey into swimming into the path of the fish’s spiked jaws.
The wandering fish was happened across by a team from wildlife NGO Condrik-Tenerife during a shark research expedition.
Valencian marine biologist Laia Valor was first to spy it at the surface near San Juan beach, and quickly called colleagues to share the eerie encounter.
Marine photographer David Jara Boguñá got the creature on camera, and Condrik later shared the footage online.
Valor said: “It is a very rare and unusual sighting. We can’t say that it never happens, but this might be the first time it has been recorded like this.”
Condrik said in a statement: “This is a true predator of the deep, living on the seabed between 200 and 2000m deep and using its dorsal appendage full of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria as bait to attract its prey, just like in the popular film Finding Nemo.”
This reference is to the terrifying run-in Nemo and Dory have with an Angler fish in the Disney classic.
Condrik continued: “Its genus ‘Melanocetus’ literally means ‘black sea monster’, a name that is not surprising with these images.”
The far-from-home fish eventually died, and its body was collected by biologists in a water-filled container.
The rare animal was taken to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology in Santa Cruz, Tenerife.
Black Devil Fish usually stayed between 200 and 2,000 metres down in the inky deep sea.
Researchers think this is the firs time ever an adult of the species, scientific name Melanocetus johnsonii, has been spotted in broad daylight.
Until now, live adult specimens had only been seen through submarine images – and only dead or in larvae form at the surface.
The Condrik team don’t know why the deep-sea dweller ventured up into shallow waters, but speculated it could be due to “illness, an upstream or fleeing a predator”.
Footage of the creature was posted to X with the caption: “Unusual sighting of an adult black devil or abyssal anglerfish in broad daylight, almost on the surface and two kilometres from the coast of Tenerife
“It is a predator that lives on the seabed between 200 and 2,000 metres deep.”
Factfile: Devil Fish
DEVIL Fish, aka Black Seadevils, are small, darkly-coloured fish of the Melanocetidae family.
The evil-looking fish dwell in deep tropical to temperate waters in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
One of the five known species has only ever been found in the Ross Sea, by Antarctica.
The fish’s skin is jelly-like and scaleless, covering a globe-shaped body and large head.
The females usually have a cluster of sharp, glassy fangs protruding from both jaws – but the males do not.
The females also grow to be much larger – up to seven inches-long, whereas male specimens remain under one inch-long.
Devil Fish are equipped with a bio-luminescent “fishing rod” – illuminated by bacteria – that lures in prey.
Its prey includes crustaceans and other small, deep-sea fish like lanternfish and bristlemouths.
