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”
Thanks everyone for all the research you have done. I too remember reading National Geographic as a kid and seeing pics of the Angler Fish. I have always been fasinated by all the amazingly freaky things that live in deep waters. Who knew a cartoon movie could make so many people want to learn new things. But I think it’s great. hope everyone keeps learning new stuff. 🙂
The commentary on the DVD states that it is indeed an Anglerfish. Straight from DVD commentary: “Anglerfish were for me the scariest darn fish I’ve ever seen in a National Geographic magazine. I used to turn the pages faster you know I’d like try to skip past those pages when I was looking through those magazines as a kid. I think really it’s the one thing on our planet that’s the closest to being a real monster. Such a pleasent name for a fish. Anglerfish! Aye I’m fishin’ fer something. But it’s pretty amazing they do exactly, well not as entertainly but they do pretty much what’s happening in this movie. They have an antenna with bioillumiscent fluid that glows in the dark and it attracts other fish then when they get close enough they kinda come outta the dark and you know just chomp ’em up.”
I work at Pixar and can confirm she is an angler fish. Reality, not surprisingly, is much better than fiction which is why we steal from it.
I must say I it was fun to see so much interest in this character.
Someone should start a thread on clown fish as the dominate one changes sex to a male and keeps the others subdued by force. Not stuff that we could actually write into the story 🙂
After much research, I am lead to believe that the fish is indeed an angler fish. I have observed that the vapor fish, has a more elongated figure than the fish on Finding Nemo, which body seems to be a smaller and stout figure, taking after that of the angler fish, and the jaw shape seems to match, the only thing that seems to be different would be the size and the length of the teeth, which could likely just be exaggerated for an effect. But in truth it is just a cartoon and I am pretty sure the world will still go around if I or any other person is wrong, ok? So please, try and be nice, and don’t provide rude comments. It isn’t a big deal. 😉
Its me again and I thought I would add a few things to my comment. I think rude comments are unexeptable and you shouldn’t write those type of things on a thing such as this. The fish on Nemo is definitly an anglerfish. I think some people need to get their facts straight. I don’t think they even looked it up and just assumed. I am not always going to be on here so if you would like to comment on this or if you agree or disagree please contact me at [email protected].
Thank you and have WONDERFUL day!
I also agree on the anglerfish story. There are lots of information on the internet and it SURLEY isn’t a viperfish. They are too long. I found a very queazy picture but I won’t post it. I am only 13 but for heavens sakes……its not a viperfish and I also have done a project on teh anglerfish and that is definitly an anglerfish. Rude comments shouldn’t be accepted and I really don’t understand the argument over a fish. I too asked my mother what fish that was and we looked it up together. Thank you for your time. I was facinated about this fish and I came across this web site and I thought I would give in a comment.
~A “Finding Nemo” Lover
P.S. Don’t out in rude comments. It’s only a web site!
I came across your site because I was also fascinated by this fish in Finding Nemo. I thought it was a made up fish. But I have the Finding Nemo story sticker album which describes it as an Angler Fish which is obviously what Disney believe it is. If you want to know what all the other fish are, get hold of the sticker album.
Thank you for your information.
As a few people have said before me; This is a Cartoon. The creature is probably fictitious. I think it is fictitious, as in the movie, the spine of the Fish lights up after Marlin and Dori see the teeth. Also the fish has VERY FREAKY GIANT GRAY EYES! Which neither the Viper Fish or Angler Fish have.
My conclusion: It’s a fictitious fish, that was probably inspired by the Angler, and then had large teeth added to it to make it look scarier.
PS: I also found this site when looking up the Fish in the Movie. Hehe, I just love that movie. And right before they get to the ‘Angler Fish’ scene they’re in the dark, and Dori asks “Are you my conscience?” after hearing Marlin’s voice… Heheh, I just love that movie…
The fish in the net could indeed be grouper. Thanks umm. Here’s one link that mentions hundreds of thousands of grouper. I also found this picture that is allegedly a grouper – and I think that this could pass for the fish in the net (obviously embellished a bit for the movie, but still very similar).
The fish that get caught in the net at the end of Finding Nemo are grouper.