Anglerfish That Swam to the Surface and Died
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About
The Anglerfish That Swam to the Surface and Died refers to a viral video of a black seadevil anglerfish swimming to the surface of the ocean, which spread online in early February 2025. The anglerfish reportedly died shortly after doing so. Purportedly, this is the first video of an anglerfish swimming to the surface, as this is a rare occurrence, with black seadevil anglerfish typically living in the deep sea. The reported death of the anglerfish became the subject of discourse, art and memes online, with many mourning the loss of the fish following its virality.
Origin
On February 5th, 2025, Instagram[1] user condrik_tenerife posted footage of a black seadevil anglerfish swimming vertically up towards the surface of the sea off the coast of Tenerife, an island in Spain. The caption describes that the video was taken during a shark research campaign and credits the team who captured it via their Instagram handles, laiavlr, vidamarina.tenerife, sabu726 and jara.natura.
The description claims that black seadevil anglerfish are typically found between 200-2,000 meters in depth, considered the "midnight zone" of the ocean, claiming this is a rare occurrence and may be the first recording of such an incident. They write, "The reason for its presence in such shallow waters is uncertain. It may be due to illness, an upwelling current, fleeing a predator, etc." The video gained over 533,000 views in 10 days.
It was reposted by TikToker[2] @jara.natura on February 6th, garnering over 119 million views in the same rough span of time.
Following the virality of the video, it was reported by the New York Times[3] and other publications that the anglerfish died hours after it surfaced, with the team behind the video claiming it was injured. The injury may be why the anglerfish swam to the surface.
@jara.natura ¡¡Podría tratarse del primer avistamiento registrado en el mundo de un diablo negro o abisal adulto (Melanocetus johnsonii) vivo, a plena luz del día y en la superficie!!😱 Un pez legendario que pocas personas habrán tenido el privilegio de observar con vida. Al parecer, los registros existentes hasta la fecha corresponden a larvas, ejemplares adultos muertos o grabados con submarinos. Emergiendo de las profundidades abisales en natación vertical, frente a tan solo 2 km de la costa de Tenerife y durante una campaña de investigación de tiburones pelágicos organizada por la ONG Condrick-Tenerife IG @Condrik_tenerife, la bióloga (IG @laiavlr) detectó este ser en superficie. Acto seguido, los biólogos Marc Martín (IG @vidamarina.tenerife) , Antonio Sabuco (IG @sabu726) , y yo mismo (IG @jara.natura) registraron imágenes espectaculares e inusuales del animal. Se trata de un verdadero depredador de las profundidades, que habita en el fondo marino entre los 200 y los 2000m de profundidad y que utiliza su apéndice dorsal repleto de bacterias simbióticas bioluminiscentes a modo de cebo para atraer a sus presas, de la misma forma que en la popular película de "Buscando a Nemo". El motivo de su presencia en aguas tan superficiales es incierto. Puede que por enfermedad, una corriente ascendente, huyendo de un depredador, etc. Su género "Melanocetus" significa literalmente "monstruo marino negro", un nombre que no sorprende con estas imágenes. Ampliamente distribuido, habita los mares tropicales y subtropicales de todo el mundo, siendo citado por primera vez en las costas de Madeira. Este sorprendente hallazgo no dejó a la tripulación indiferente y será recordado para siempre. #pecesabisales #anglerfish #abisal #Melanocetus #islascanarias @DIVEVOLK_ES @Cressi 1946 @Mares @National Geographic España @Nat Geo Animals @National Geographic @National Geographic TV @bbcearth #earthcapture #tenerife #nationalgeographicespaña #faunamarina #buscandoanemo #findingnemo #faunaespañola ♬ Overture – Andrew Lloyd Webber & "The Phantom Of The Opera" Original London Cast
Spread
The anglerfish video garnered viral spread over the following days, inspiring fan art, discourse and memes, many of which mourn the death of the fish.
For example, on February 9th, 2025, TikToker[4] @gopickupyourbook posted a video mashing up the anglerfish video with an unrelated, 2024 webcomic about an anglerfish who surfaces and dies by X[5] user @beetlemoses, garnering over 500,000 views in a week.
@gopickupyourbook she just wanted to see the light, one first and last time. she might have never know 💔 creds to beetlemoses #blackangler #anglerfish #fish #sea #ocean #deepsea #rare #tenerife #myshayla ♬ Jacob and the Stone – Emile Mosseri
On February 14th, Redditor u/AttilaTheMuun posted a piece of fan art based on the anglerfish to the subreddit /r/dankmemes,[6] garnering over 3,700 upvotes in three days.
On the same day, TikToker[7] @sydbecrafty posted artwork based on the anglerfish video, which was reposted by X[8] user @kirstilynn11 that day, garnering over 19.2 million views on the former and 341,000 likes on the latter in the same span of time.
On February 15th, TikToker[9] @savannahbellexoxo posted a video in which she films herself crying while explaining the anglerfish video to her boyfriend, garnering over 8.3 million views in two days.
@savannahbellexoxo #anglerfish #upset #valentinesday ♬ original sound – Savannah Belle 🌙🪐
On February 16th, 2025, TikToker[10] @drew_j_garcia posted an animation depicting the anglerfish swimming to the surface in a Pixar animation style, garnering over 2.1 million views in a day.
@drew_j_garcia If Pixar made the Anglerfish film 🥹 #fyp #anglerfish #ai #pixar #animation #shortfilm Watch the behind the scenes here @Drew Garcia ♬ Nemo Egg (From "Finding Nemo") – Extended Edition – Narratio
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Instagram – condrik_tenerife
[2] TikTok – jara.natura
[3] NYT – anglerfish story
[4] TikTok – gopickupyourbook
[5] X – beetlemoses
[7] TikTok – sydbecrafty
[8] X – kirstilynn11
[9] TikTok – savannahbellexoxo
[10] TikTok – drew_j_garcia
Top Comment
Krupam the Oldfag
Feb 17, 2025 at 03:00PM EST