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Animal profile

Humpback Anglerfish

Melanocetus johnsonii

ActinopterygiiBathypelagic and mesopelagic open ocean, mostly between 500 and 2,000 metresLeast Concern

Field profile

The humpback anglerfish is a globular black-bodied deep-sea fish with a hinged jaw and long recurved teeth. Females carry a fleshy lure on a modified dorsal spine, lit by symbiotic bacteria. Males are a fraction of the female's size and do not feed as adults in the same way.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-12-23

Humpback Anglerfish

The anglerfish lure glows with borrowed bacteria

The light on a deep-sea anglerfish's fishing rod is not made by the fish. It is made by luminous bacteria housed in a bulb at the tip, an arrangement the fish must acquire rather than inherit.

Read with evidence →

Humpback Anglerfish | Daily Animal Facts