Fun Fact by Selma Pietruck (Published 24.11.2023)
The Whipnose Anglerfish is a deep sea creature which was recently discovered to live its life upside-down. The reason for this behaviour is that while most anglerfish dangle their lure in front of their face, the Whipnose has a lure that can grow up to four times the length of its body. Because it swims upside down, the peculiar fish has a lower risk of biting its own appendage. The Whipnose Anglerfish was discovered by japanese researchers back in 2011, but back then the fish was believed to be a single incident that wasn’t typical behaviour.
Now, the Whipnose has been sighted again, and again it has been seen upside-down only, which means that it most likely is a behavioural trait of this specific type of anglerfish.
Sources:
Brown, E. A. (2023, November 22). A fish that fishes for other fish lives its life upside down. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/science/upside-down-angler-fish.html