Nutrition

The deep sea anglerfish is one of the most interesting creatures of the sea and that also includes its diet. With the harshness within which the anglerfish lives it should be no surprise that food is something that is hard to come by. As a result of this the diet of the deep sea anglerfish is very ranged in what it eats.

Juvenile deep sea anglerfish
Source: Sonke Johnson. http://biology.duke.edu/johnsenlab/hawaii%20cruise.html

 As far as what male anglerfish eat, that is simple to answer. Male anglerfishes survive on the nutrients that they receive from blood from females. Male anglerfishes are almost parasitic and because their whole life goal is to find a female to mate with it is very difficult for them to find food on their own (Munk 2000). Female anglerfishes however are a different story. The female anglerfish will eat just about anything that it comes into contact with, even if it is larger. The main diet of the deep sea angler consists mainly of small fish, shrimp, like the Mantis Shrimp, small squid, turtle, and in some cases sea birds (creatures of the deep). Most of this food is eaten after it has died and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The deep sea anglerfish consumes a lot of the dead matter from the mesopelagic zone.

 The diet of the deep sea anglerfish depends greatly on what prey can be found in the area and along the ocean floor. Anglerfishes have a very interesting adaptation to help them with this, even when their prey is larger than they are. The deep sea angler fish has the ability to stretch and expand their jaw and stomach to consume prey up to twice their size. Meals this large rarely come along in the bottom of the ocean however (creatures of the deep). To learn more about the anglerfish diet as well just other interesting information click here to be directed to another cite.

Learn about how this fish reproduces or go back home.