The 210 different anglerfish species live in virtually all oceanic habitats.

The fleshy part contains the light producing plankton discussed above.

Lovely Lure – The highly specialized lure used to entice their prey is known as an “esca.” This esca consists of a tall spine with a fleshy nob at the end.

Female anglerfishes are much larger than males. That means that females and males are different enough to tell apart.

Big Lady – Like many other animal species, these creatures exhibit sexual dimorphism.

When a male finds himself a lovely lady he will bite her skin, and stay there! He fuses into her body, becoming nothing more than a sperm-producing lump.

Take Me With You! – Finding mates in the pitch black deep-sea environment can be difficult.

This light comes from light-producing plankton.

Light Me Up – When living in the deep sea, where light is hard to come by, what’s the best way to attract attention? By producing light of course! Many species of anglerfishes have light in their lures to attract prey.

These incredibly interesting creatures are well suited for life in the depths of the oceans. There are so many different species with so many unique body shapes and adaptations. The species that swim freely about are more laterally compressed, which means that they are taller and more narrow on the sides. This means that their bodies are shorter, with wider sides, almost like someone smooshed them down onto the sea floor.

The species the live near the sea floor have bodies that are dorsoventrally compressed.

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