Deep dive 3 min read
How Big Is an Anglerfish? (Smaller Than You Think)
Thanks to Finding Nemo, many people imagine anglerfish as big monsters. Most are smaller than your hand – but one species reaches about 4 ft.
In Finding Nemo, the anglerfish is a monster big enough to swallow Marlin and Dory whole. In real life, most deep-sea anglerfish could sit in the palm of your hand. But the size range is huge: from some of the smallest vertebrates on Earth to a fish as long as a 7-year-old child is tall.
How big are deep-sea anglerfish?
- Most females: under about 8 in (20 cm) long, many only 2 to 4 in (5 to 10 cm).
- The biggest: Krøyer’s deep-sea angler, whose females can reach about 4 ft (1.2 m).
- Males: tiny, often less than an inch (2.5 cm).
The humpback anglerfish, also called the black seadevil, is the one most people picture. Its females grow to about 7 in (18 cm). Males reach only about an inch.
Why are the males so small?
In the deep sea, finding a partner in the dark is very hard. So in many anglerfish species, the tiny male’s only job is to find a female and hold on. In some species, he bites into her and their bodies fuse together, sharing blood, for the rest of his life. Read the whole story in Male vs. Female Anglerfish.
Strange but trueThe male of one anglerfish species, Photocorynus spiniceps, is only about a quarter of an inch (6 mm) long as an adult, making him one of the smallest vertebrates in the world.
Anglerfish vs. you
- A typical female deep-sea anglerfish: about the size of your hand, or smaller.
- A male: about the size of a fingernail to a finger joint.
- Krøyer’s deep-sea angler: up to about as tall as a 7-year-old child.
The monster from the movie is real. It’s just much smaller, and a lot more likely to fit in a jam jar.
The big anglerfish you can eat
Anglerfish aren’t all deep-sea dwellers. The monkfish, a shallow-water relative, is much bigger: the European monkfish can grow up to about 6 ft 7 in (2 m) and weigh well over 100 lb (45 kg). It’s the one sold in restaurants.
Why are deep-sea anglerfish so small?
Food is scarce in the deep sea, so a smaller body needs less energy. Anglerfish make up for their size with huge mouths and stretchy stomachs, which let them swallow prey up to twice their own size. Find out how their famous lure works in Why Does the Anglerfish Have a Light on Its Head?
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