Never before seen video of deep-sea anglerfish caught in the Azores
Footage was caught around the island of São Jorge, in the Archipelago of the Azores, deep in the Atlantic Ocean’s waters.
It was just another working day at sea for Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen. The couple was operating the submarine LULA 1000 at 800 meters depth out the coast of São Jorge island, when the submarine’s camera caught what appeared to be a Caulophryne Jordani swimming alone.
It was the first time that this species was being caught on camera so this was an important moment in the happening. The information available up until now was scarce, with only 14 specimens preserved in collections in Natural Museums around the world. Thus, for the Jakobsens, this was an extraordinary event they were witnessing.
The couple had been filming the fish for about 25 minutes when they realized that they were filming not one but two specimens. What they were seeing on camera was a couple mating in the deep waters of the Azores. Besides being the first time that this species was caught on camera, the Jakobsen were also capturing its mating habits.
“These are two deep water fishes and it is the first time that this species is caught on camera. There is a male, which is a lot smaller, that is attached to the female for reproductive effects” explained Kirsten Jakobsen.
However, the mating process of these fishes is pure horror. Some scientists say that the worst sex occurs deep sea in the Atlantic — because the process is bizarre and out of this world, so say the least.
A male anglerfish’s first and only sexual adventure results in his becoming permanently fused — by his lips, no less — to the side of a relatively gargantuan female. During sex, the male anglerfish’s body literally melts with his female companion, his major organs dissolve, his skin becomes her skin, his fins fall off and his blood becomes her blood, almost completely disappearing. Almost like a parasite, the male anglerfish melts into the body of the female, becoming forever dependent of her.
The footage was taken south of the island of São Jorge, in the Archipelago of the Azores, in a very steep underwater terrain, where the Jakobsens have been working for the Rebikoff Foundation. This is a particularly rich location in terms of marine life and the couple has made other interesting findings as well, such as rare coral communities.
Caulophryne Jordani, also known as Fanfin Angler, is a species that belongs to the Caulophrynidae Family (or Fanfins), which refers to fishes who live in waters ranging from 100 to 1510 meters deep. The name Caulophryne derives from the Greek “Kaulos” (Stem) and “Phryne” (toad) and, according to Goode and Bean (1896), it was used to describe ‘phryne’-like fish with the cephalic tentacle supported on a stemlike base”.
Ted Pietsch, a deep-sea fish researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, has been studying these animals for most of his life, and upon watching the imagens said that he had never seen anything like it.
Most of what we know about deep-sea anglerfish comes from dead animals pulled up in nets. Scientists have identified more than 160 species, but only a handful of videos exist — and this is the first to show a sexually united pair. “So you can see how rare and important this discovery is,” Pietsch says. “It was really a shocker for me.”
A male anglerfish’s first and only sexual adventure results in his becoming permanently fused — by his lips, no less — to the side of a relatively gargantuan female that resembles David Cronenberg’s nightmare about the shark from “Jaws.”
The Archipelago of the Azores is made up of nine islands of volcanic origin and it is located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in the Atlantic Ocean, between the American and European continents.
It is an autonomous region of the Portuguese Republic, having achieved its administrative autonomy in 1895 and, later, its political autonomy in 1976. With a total area of 2333km2, it registered in 2011 a total population of 246 746 inhabitants and is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
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