A female anglerfish known as the Fanfin Seadevil is seen alive in this video screengrab taken at about 800 meters (2,660 feet) deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation
A female anglerfish known as the Fanfin Seadevil is seen alive in this video screengrab taken at about 800 meters (2,660 feet) deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Down deep off the south slope of São Jorge Island in the Azores, west of Portugal in the North Atlantic Ocean, a fearsome-looking fish and her parasitically attached mate drift almost helplessly, salvaging precious energy in their dark, food-scarce environment.

The pair, a species never before seen alive by humans, was recorded recently on camera by researchers Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen aboard the LULA1000, a submersible operated by the marine science-focused Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation.

It is a mesmerizing scene for the average viewer, but for Ted Pietsch, a University of Washington professor emeritus of aquatic and fishery sciences and curator emeritus of fishes at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, the video footage is downright amazing.

“This is a unique and never-before-seen thing,” said Pietsch, who is the world’s expert on anglerfishes, having described and named more than 70 new species. “It’s so wonderful to have a clear window on something only imagined before this.”

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