NEWPORT BEACH, Ca. – A visitor to a California park made an ultra-rare discovery.
The football fish, normally found thousands of feet deep in the ocean, was found washed up on the shore at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach.
Recommended Videos
A type of angler fish, it normally lives in pitch-black water.
Though the fish itself is quite common, it’s hardly ever found outside that environment. This specimen is easily identifiable as a female because of the long stalk on its head. Also, only the females can get this large, reaching a size of up to 24 inches.
That appendage has multiple bioluminescent tips and is used as a sort of fishing rod to attract prey in the darkness before those transparent teeth go to work.
Football fish are capable of sucking up prey the size of their own bodies.