This “rod” that they have is an extension of the spine of the dorsal fin tipped with fleshy-looking “bait.” It can be moved around and anglerfish will jerk it as fisherman do it with a real fishing rod. To other fishes, the bait looks like a shrimp or probably another smaller fish. Eventually, a curious fish will swim by in an attempt to fill its stomach.
Unfortunately, before it realizes that it is a fake food, it is usually already too late. With one gulp, the lucky anglerfish gets its catch and the unlucky deceived fish, becomes food. There are two groups of anglerfish. One group occupies the shallow water and another, the deep sea.
Most people assume that the cold, high-pressured, dark depths of the ocean support little or no life at all. With the advancement of technology, it is now proven that there is a great variety of living creatures down there.
The deep-sea anglerfish too, like their “upper-level” cousins, possess the “fishing rod” feature, which tells us that they too go fishing even in the dark. This time, only females have the “fishing pole”. Since it is too dark down there, they bring lights with them. Some species possess luminous “bait” and some others possess luminous organs to attract prey and possibly mates as well.
Talking about mates, here comes the interesting part of the story. In many species of the deep-sea anglerfish, the males are considerably smaller than the females. Females may reach up to 4 feet long and males are just one tenth of the size. Because of this, the males are at a disadvantage and one might think deepsea anglerfish do not have the chance to reproduce and survive. Somehow, they do!
