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 was wondering if anybody could tell me what kind of fish are the black ones that school and get caught in the fishing net in Finding Nemo.
Thanks, Peter
I have to say that i think your site is fantastic. It was just what i was looking for – with great pictures and info. Pity about the disagreements but i guess you get that in any comment forum! Anyway.. good site and good job 🙂
Hey!! Try to remember it’s just animation. It’s like you would argue over what breed of rabbit Bugs is for crying out loud!!!
By the way, my vote is on the Angler theory.
My 6 year old daughter and I were also interested
in the ugly fish in the movie Finding Nemo. My search led me to your site. It is definitely an angler fish!! I looked at the picture of the Viper fish that hmmm referred to and it has long sharp teeth like the angler fish BUT the main difference is that the viper fish is long like an eel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I thank you sir for your information, that is correct! Mr. hmmm needs to get HIS facts straight!!!!! Mily
Good links to information my daughter needed on the angler fish. I noted some of the negative comments. Glad you accepted them and moved on. Well done, thanks for your help.
Yes, it is an Angler fish in “Finding Nemo”. I actually talked to one of the animators on the project. I never knew anything about this cool fish until then, If you don’t believe me, buy the DVD and watch the commentary at that part.
Thank You everyone for your comments!
Thanks for a good website and info 🙂 My kids were also fascinated with the deep sea angler fish on Nemo.
I think the confusion of this fish with the viper fish happens because there are so many different types of (deep sea) angler fish… the one in Nemo could just be a combination of a couple of them. I have included a link to another picture of a deep sea angler fish that looks a little different to the picture you have a link to.
But anyone looking at this picture of the actual fish in question on Nemo should be able to tell that she is some type of angler fish. One of the website I read on these fish said that the female fish actually absorbs some of the internal organs of the male fish once he has joined with her… freaky.
its the angler fish, not the viper fish in nemo. they just made it even more scarier looking by making the teeth longer shaper and pointier.and the fish bigger then they are in real life. in real life the angler fish , about the size of a tennis ball! maybe a softball. not 50 times bigger then the clown fish in nemo .also its the females that hunt like that not males and they hardly swim like in the movie she mainly lays around waiting for a unsuspecting victim to go for her “lighted” lure. males are even smaller then clown fish, Adult male clown fish grow to be about 2 to 4 inches. see impossable to be 50 times the size!
i’m just doing a school report