Melanocetus johnsonii!!! WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Let's talk about a strange fish from the depths.

The Anglo-Saxons call this abyssal monk "black sea demon" and became especially famous among our little ones when he appeared in Pixar's hit movie "Finding Nemo" hypnotizing Dori with her luminous bait.

Melanocetus johnsonii, described in 1864 by Gunther on a female captured off the coast of Madeira, belongs to the only genus of the family Melanocetidae, whose etymology comes from the Greek melanos, "black", and cetus, "monster of the sea". It is a batipelagic fish that inhabits the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian, in depths greater than 1000 m, more usually between 3000 and 4000 m.

Fotografía de Theodore W. Pietsch, University of Washington (USA).

Brownish brown, which will facilitate camouflage, sharp teeth and flaccid stomach, as seen in the image, presents on the head a mobile antenna that nose in the nose, the evolution of a bacterium, taken by bioluminescent bacteria in the symbiosis with the fish and, when illuminated, act as a decoy for the attraction of other fish that confuse the protuberance with some type of worm. When a victim falls into the trap, M. johnsonii holds it with his big teeth and breathing without major difficulties, so that its huge mouth allows it to swallow twice its length, which offers a competitive advantage in the abyssal depth .

Fotografía de Jan Yde Poulsen, Ph.d. student, University of Bergen, Noruega.
http://jypichthyology.info

Well, so far we have not seen "alive and kicking" this strange little fish, whose main feature is the aforementioned "fishing rod" that comes out of the top of his head and culminates in a biolominiscent organ, But here are the scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) who in 2014 manage to shoot some images of this mysterious animal

Well, so far we have not seen "alive and kicking" this strange little fish, whose main feature is the aforementioned "fishing rod" that comes out of the top of his head and culminates in a biolominiscent organ. But here's where scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have just recorded this abyssal monkfish for the first time.

Below these lines you can see the images, which were captured 600 meters deep near the coast of California. Do not be intimidated by the little fish, it's really only 9 centimeters long. And that is a female, because this species shows a very pronounced sexual dimorphism, being the males really tiny in comparison.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.