There are over 200 species of deep-sea anglerfish; some are long and thin, some are squat and round, some have fins that they use to "walk" along the sea floor, and others have huge eyes set far back into their heads. But how did all this morphological diversity first come to be? Thanks to a new anglerfish family tree, now we know. Scientists built this evolutionary tree using genetic information from hundreds of samples and anglerfish specimens across the globe. It indicates that anglerfish originated from an ancestor that crawled along the seafloor ... and sheds new light on how experts could think about biodiversity as a whole.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. The first time I ever saw an anglerfish was on the big screen. It appeared first as a warm, glowing light. I see a... I see a light.
A light?
Yeah, over there.
Oh, I see it too.
Rising out of the dark with bulbous eyes and pointy teeth, this fish gets a villain moment in the 2003 Pixar movie Finding Nemo. It's so pretty.
Good feelings gone.
And so ensues probably the best underwater chase scene in cinematic history.
I remember seeing this movie in the theaters. I was three in 2003. This is Rose Fauché from Rice University. And apparently when the anglerfish scene came on, I was so freaked out by it, I started crying and my mom had to take me out of the theater.
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