Pacific football fish

The Pacific Football Fish was recently washed ashore on a California coast. It is usually found in deep sea. Black in colour, it is usually addressed to as “Monster looking fish”. It is very rare to find the fish near the coast or washed away in coastal areas as they live in deep seas.

About Pacific Football Fish

• The Pacific Football fish are 60 centimetres in length.
• Only female Pacific Football fish has bioluminescent tips that are used to hunt prey in the darkness of water that is 3,000 feet deep.
• They have large teeth.
• Their large mouth is capable of swallowing prey that is the size of their own body.
• These fish are found at great depths of the seas. Recently, the Five Deeps Expedition found that aquatic life is present even at 11,000 metres, in the Mariana Trench of Pacific Ocean. Mariana Trench is the deepest point in the world. The Five Deeps Expedition explored deepest points in five oceans of the world.

Bioluminescence

It is the production and emission of light by a living organism. It occurs in vertebrates, invertebrates, bioluminescent bacteria and terrestrial anthropod.

Usually, this bioluminescence involves a light emitting molecule called luciferin and an enzyme called luciferase. The Enzyme catalyses oxidation of luciferin.

IUCN

It is listed under Least Concern in IUCN list of threatened species.

Why is the fish called a monster?

Males latch onto the females with their teeth and become “sexual parasites”. Eventually they coalesce (come together to form one mass or whole). This happens with the female till nothing is left of their form except tested for reproduction.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021