Crystal Cove was pristine, as the name suggests, with its misty air and migrating dolphins along the Southern California coastline. So just imagine how one of those magical beach walks the park is so famous for was disturbed when some black terror of the deep washed up on shore (again), as it did last Friday the 13th. Some visitors might reel in horror at the sight; those less squeamish might, in pure fascination, be lured to look closer at this football-sized, toothed curiosity of the deep sea.
This alien-like swimmer is, in fact, a Pacific football fish, a type of deep-sea predator from the larger family of anglerfish (there are more than 200 different species of anglerfish). Its bumpy, blob-like body glistened in the waves on the shore; its multiple rows of transparent, sharp teeth shone like pointed shards of glass.
The specimen they found this October was female—easily distinguished from males by its size. Female football fish can reach 24 inches from tip to tail, while males are only about an inch long. But most prominently of all, only females exhibit the strange, hanging stalk growing from their foreheads like some alien antenna—curious indeed!
(Left) A football fish was picked up by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after washing ashore at Crystal Cove on Friday, Oct. 13; (Right) A lifeguard for Crystal Cove State Park holds up the football fish. Courtesy of California State Parks
This particular football fish was picked up by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for further study, according to Crystal Cove State Park. The park noted an unusual surge of the rare species washing up onshore in recent years. One was found on the same stretch of beach in Orange County in May 2021, generating quite a media buzz.
Reporters dove into ichthyology as the fish drew interest. Foremost, people wondered, where did it come from? The Pacific football fish inhabits the ocean’s “midnight zone,” swimming at insanely pressurized depths of 3,000 feet all across the Pacific Ocean—from Japan, to California, to Peru.
And what about that crazy head stalk? Dangling like a tassel in front of its face, the appendage is equipped with a bioluminescent “glow lamp” that helps it locate prey in the sunless waters. Its jaws, with rows of teeth and startling underbite, are capable of swallowing whole animals as large as its own body.
A closeup of the football fish, which is one of 200 different species of anglerfish. Courtesy of California State Parks
Detail photos of the football fish found at Crystal Cove in October 2023. Courtesy of California State Parks
And just when you think it couldn’t get weirder, it does. The strange mating habits of the football fish defy the ordinary. The entire existence of the male football fish is devoted to finding a mate and reproducing, which he does by latching onto a female with his teeth like a “sexual parasite” and coalescing with her until hardly anything else is visible. Wild!
The last football fish found at Crystal Cove prior to 2021 was in 2001. Given how it’s so rare, it begs the question, why are they appearing so frequently in this neck of the woods lately? The idyllic cove, with its tidepools and coral sage-scrub-laden bluff, is a magical-seeming, rare environment. Thanks to good stewardship and volunteers who keep the beach clean, it’s pristine indeed. No wonder so many visitors flock here for walks; yet it’s far from the dark habitat of the ghoulish anglerfish. Why would they choose here of all places?
(Courtesy of California State Parks)
Media across the board were baffled. Scientists were scratching their heads. Crystal Cove State Park took to social media, querying, “What does it all mean?” Some called the encounter “a testament to the diversity of marine life.” Others speculated, was it caused by “oil spills, ocean-dumped DDT, sonic booms?” Might it be something simpler? A well-meaning bid to draw social media attention perhaps (as reporters, we have to ask)? A fisherman’s Halloween prank? We may never know.
Michael Wing is a writer and editor based in Calgary, Canada, where he was born and educated in the arts. He writes mainly on culture, human interest, and trending news.
