Terrifying ‘Sea Devil’ from Galapagos Islands

• Schmidt Ocean Institute Finds Unidentified Sea Devil.
• Ambush Predators with Unique Features.
• “Sea Devil” Name from Fishing Net Encounters.

The Galapagos Islands’ rocky bottom is home to an elusive and unsettling “sea devil” with projecting eyeballs that was seen in a viral video taken by researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. This unidentified species is also known as monkfish. It belongs to the Lophiidae family of goosefish.

As per the Schmidt Ocean Institute, “They are flattened anglerfishes that lie still on the muddy ocean bottom and ambush their prey. Like other anglerfish, the head of the goosefish is enormous in comparison to the rest of the body. It has a wide mouth lined with numerous bands of long, curved teeth. According to legend, its common name derives from the belief that it could swallow a goose whole.”

The term “sea devils” was created because a number of fishermen were uneasy when they found these fish entangled in their nets.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute shared on Instagram, “The hunting strategy of the goosefish is to move as little as possible. It lies on the ocean bottom and uses a fleshy spine located on the top of the head to lure in prey. When they attack, goosefish use their large mouths to snap up other fish and invertebrates and swallow them whole.”

Take a look at the post below:

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A post shared by Schmidt Ocean Institute (@schmidtocean)

It was shared on October 10th, this video. It has had over 23,000 views since it was posted. There are a ton of comments and more than 2,000 likes on the sharing.

Check out the responses below:

An individual wrote, “I thought a toadfish at first… or some angler relative (well, I still suspect this). Now I need to read up on the goosefish! Awesome! Thanks!”

A second said, “Well this guy is freaking terrifying in a weird adorable way.” “This goes in the ‘weirdly wonderful’ category,” posted a third. A fourth commented, “Woah!”

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