ON THE WILD SIDE
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There are seven species in the Lophius family of anglers, found in deep water off the coasts of Africa, the Americas, Europe and Japan.
Some species can grow to 2m in length but ours, the “black-bellied angler”, reaches about half that. These fascinating, repulsive fish are almost completely flat with their bodies dominated by a huge mouth.
It points upwards and is filled with needle-sharp teeth which curve backwards, so prey cannot escape. They can also be flattened to keep them out of the way.
The best-known feature of the anglerfish is its lure. Where the dorsal fin should
I ALWAYS thought of today’s subject as a tropical creature that was alien to the UK…until while walking along the south Wales coast I had to wrestle one from my labrador’s mouth!
be, the fish has instead evolved three long hairs, one ending in a tiny lump called the esca which acts as a lure for other fish.
When anything touches the esca, the angler bites straight away.
They can eat anything they can get into their mouths, and their stomachs can stretch to hold prey as big as their own bodies.
Their other fins are also specially modified, and their two back fins have evolved into something resembling feet which mean they can walk around the sea floor looking for a spot to ambush prey. They can also change colour to help with camouflage. Anglers live from 1,000ft to more than 3,000ft, deep, moving into the shallower water when not breeding. They lay their eggs in one long sheet of jelly that can be three feet wide by 30ft. Until recently, the angler drew little interest aside from being a creepy undersea alien. But one day someone decided to lop off its head and tail and call it monkfish – now an expensive delicacy.