Rare footage showing bizarre “anglerfish” “walking” 1,225 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Researchers have shared stunning footage of a goosefish running along the ocean floor.
The footage was filmed 1,225 feet below the ocean’s surface and shows the goosefish strolling along the ocean floor with its fins.
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The Video The “anglerfish” can then be seen turning its head and pointing its scary eyes directly into the camera.
Researchers captured the rare video of the goosefish, also known as Lophiidae, in the Galapagos Islands on October 9th.
It was filmed as part of an expedition by the Schmidt Ocean Institute in collaboration with the Parque Nacional Galápagos and the Charles Darwin Foundation.
The expedition hopes to map the vertical reefs of the Galapagos Islands, located about 1,000 km from mainland Ecuador.
Goosefish
Goosefish are anglerfish found in all of the world’s oceans, including the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific.
They tend to inhabit the sandy and muddy soils of the continental shelf and continental slope.
As for physical characteristics, they have a very large head with a large mouth filled with long, sharp and recurved teeth.
As with other anglerfish, the first spine of the dorsal fin carries a bulb-like bait.
They can grow up to 4.6 feet long and weigh around 20 kilograms.
They have a large mouth, which is useful for eating prey such as fish and sometimes crustaceans.
“One thing that really stands out about the goosefish is how optimized the body is for a very low-energy lifestyle,” Jethro Reading, a deep-sea fish specialist at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom who was not involved in the expedition, tells Live Science.
Reading also found that they do not waste energy swimming away from predators, preferring instead to hide.
Another way to reduce the energy expenditure of fish is the ability to run underwater.
“The use of the awkward, rather inelegant-looking gait, even when disrupted by the ROV.” [remotely operated vehicle] “The video shows how little energy they have – they are built for quick bursts of activity,” Reading said.
