The Mysterious Pacific Footballfish

The Pacific footballfish is a large but rarely encountered deep-sea
anglerfish known from only 31 specimens recovered worldwide.
Strangely, over the course of last year (2021), three footballfish
were found washed up on beaches in San Diego and Orange Counties.
Scripps scientists aren't quite sure why these rare creatures are
suddenly showing up on our beaches, but were lucky enough to
collect, preserve and archive one of these unusual animals in
Scripps world class oceanographic collections. This specimen, a
true oddity, is now on display for a very limited time at Birch
Aquarium. To see the footballfish and learn more about it, join us
and Scripps Collections Manager, Ben Frable, for a deep dive into
the fascinating story of this mysterious fish, where and how it
lives, the biology of anglerfishes, and how Scripps scientists are
preserving this animal for future research. Series: "Jeffrey B.
Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science]
[Show ID: 37914]