😱 This bizarre beastie of the deep, washed ashore a California beach earlier this week.
The nightmarish lady is an anglerfish, normally found 3,000 feet below the waves. Its strange head protrusion dangles a glowing lure before her viciously toothed mouth to entice prey. We know this one’s a female because male’s are tiny in comparison – they latch onto the female as a sexual parasite eventually merging so that all that remains of them is their testes.
📷 @crystalcovestatepark
my testes!
Like I need another reason NOT to go into the ocean. Gah!! That looks like something out of a Guillermo del Toro film.
I love how The Oatmeal explains the angler fish (which I admit was how I first learned about the poor male’s fate) – https://theoatmeal.com/comics/angler