The NGO Condrik Tenerife, specialized in research and conservation of sharks and rays in the Canary Islands, has made public a video of an unusual sighting of adult black devil or abyssal monkfish in broad daylight, almost at the surface and two kilometers off the coast of Tenerife, an extremely rare occurrence for this species.
The sighting took place on January 26th near the coast of San Juan beach, in the Tenerife municipality of Guía de Isora and, to date, according to EFE marine biologist Laia Valor, only larvae or dead adult specimens have been sighted so close to the surface.
This patient-looking fish is accustomed to living at depths of between 200 and 2,000 meters.
It was spotted “in broad daylight and at the surface”, off the coast of Tenerife, in the Canary archipelago.
This extremely rare sighting was filmed by Spanish researchers.
It's a discovery worthy of a fictional film, or even an “underwater nightmare”, laughs the Spanish version of National Geographic.
On January 26, during a marine expedition, a team from the Spanish NGO Condrik Tenerife came face to face with a fish from another world.
More precisely, they came across a “black devil”, i.e. a Johnson's monkfish, a marine species living in the abyss, just 2 kilometers off the west coast of Tenerife, an island in the Spanish Canary archipelago.
The team immediately filmed the scene, and the images, first posted on their Instagram account and then on El País' YouTube channel, have since travelled around the world.
They show a grey-black fish with long, sharp-looking teeth swimming through turquoise water.
While its appearance is “disturbing” to say the least, the “black devil is harmless to humans”, says National Geographic.
On Instagram, the Spanish NGO explains that this “could be the world's first recorded sighting of a living black devil, in broad daylight and on the surface”.
Usually living at depths of between 200 and 2,000 meters, where “sunlight no longer penetrates”, the “black devil” is a rarely observed species.
According to Condrik Tenerife, “sightings to date have apparently involved specimens in the larval stage and dead adults, or have been made from a submarine”.
Its presence in such shallow waters therefore raises questions.
Its presence in such shallow waters therefore raises questions.
For the time being, no statements can be made, but several hypotheses are on the table, explains National Geographic.
According to the media outlet, the animal may have been fleeing a predator, or may have become disoriented due to illness or an updraft.
Died shortly after its discovery, it was taken to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (Muna) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife for study, concludes the Argentine daily La Nacion.
Links :
- GeoGarage blog :Anglerfish entered the midnight zone 55 million years ago ... / Fishing in the deep: first observations of a deep-sea anglerfish / Absurd creature of the week: the Anglerfish and ... / Rare video of fiercely 'beautiful' deep-sea Black Seadevil / Deep-sea anglerfish caught mating in first-of-Iis-kind video
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