So the other night, my son asks me about this fish he saw in Finding Nemo. Normally I might not share such a tale, because it’s probably only memorable to our family – but the answers found from this innocent question were pretty impressive indeed.
You see, the alleged fish has a light on it’s head and huge fangs. I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of such a beast. In fact, I thought it sounded like someone had been having a little fun in the animation room. I even made the mistake of mentioning that it might not be completely real!
You can imagine my surprise when I finally found a picture of the fish in question. That’s a freaky fish indeed, and it seems that very little imagination would be necessary to get this fellow looking like a scary fish!
So I looked around some more and found all sorts of information, including this little tidbit that seems to provide all the information you might need (sorry, link died). You see, apparently this vicious beast is the female of the species! And you thought human women were bad! Luckily they only live at depths of 1,600 to 10,000 feet!
The luminous organ on her head actually attracts her prey. She can vibrate the thing, too, presumably to attract prey if they’re blind. The worse part is that the male of the species lives only to bond himself to the body of the female and provide his seed so that the species may continue. He’s also a lot smaller and not quite as strange looking,
I even found a picture of a live one (or a recently live one – about halfway down the page). Strangely enough, this beast is not the ugliest creature in the ocean. No, that honor belongs to the Fangtooth, a fish so bizarre, that he actually has sheaths in his head for his teeth to slide into when his mouth closes (about one-third of the way down the page)!
And that’s not all – don’t skip the main creature feature, more creatures and still more creatures. Pages courtesy of the Norfanz Voyage web site.
Comments
215 responses to “The Angler Fish”
I looked up Fangtooth in google imiges and i think that is the freakiest fish i will ever see in my life!
Maybe I can settle this question. I work in Walt Disney Imagineering and I’m currently working on the Nemo & Friends attraction that’s being built in The Living Seas pavillion at EPCOT.
The fish in question in Nemo is definitely an anglerfish and is specifically modeled after the anglerfish with the scientific name – Melanocetus johnsonii – a humpback anglerfish.
Yes, the Pixar animators definitely took some liberties with the depiction. However, considering that fish talk in this movie, one might expect that not everything would be 100% realistic.
I have the Finding Nemo special edition 2 disc set, and in the ‘special features’ part of the DVD, when they talk about the film, how it was made, the fish used in the film, and so on, they specifically say this fish in question, is in fact an Angler Fish.
I have seen the film many times, as it’s one of my favorites…guess that’s the kid in me. Anyway, when I watched the film again the other day, I decided to watch all the commentary stuff, and all the extra stuff, to learn about the film, the fish and such, I got curious about this particular fish, and decided to check out yahoo search first, and then this google site.
It’s true that this fish doesn’t look identical in every aspect as the fish in the film, but does it really have to? It has a very close resemblance, if you really look closely at it. As far as I am concerned, it IS in fact the Anlger fish, with a little bit of imagination added to it.
Either which way, it’s not a fish I’d want to be getting close to. It’s so ugly and scary looking. Sure, it eats other fish, but would us humans be safe around this fish? Or would it try to take a chomp out of us too? Does anyone know if it’d actually take a chomp out of a person or not? Or would it just swim away?
I’ve known about angler fish for a while, but can’t find good pictures of him.
Thanks for the pics and info. Especially on the fangtooth.
D.
The animators have indeed took some liberties in the fish in question. I personally would say it is about 80% Angler. But the teeth are definately exagerated. It a libery taken to make the fish a really menacing creature. It is however very little viper, mainly because the Viper’s body is quite longer. This does not mean they did not take elements from it to create this animated monster.
If it does inpsire people into science, good.
Thank you this site is great me and my little bro (whom is 7) Are looking for a picture of the Angler fish (its midnight)and info and its about time for the pic cuz he waiting to draw it! HEHE!!!
Why is your stepson scared of a little angler fish( and they are really little)?
this is pretty good but i need more info on this fish im doing a marine assignment for my yr 7 english report and we have to write about a sea creature if u have any more info can u please send it to me at [email protected]
Thank you this was so helpful. I am doing a report so I loved it.
i think your son is smart if he remebers the animals on finding nemo