14 November 2011 Anglerfish

One of the fun things about homeschooling Sam is that I learn all sorts of interesting things along with her. Today’s tidbit: the anglerfish. You know it’s the deep sea fish that uses its own lamplight on a rod to attract smaller fish to its gaping maw, right? Well apparently only the females have the special luminous fin. The males have no way of drawing in their own food. So what do they do? They attach to females and eat their blood. (See Sam’s helpful illustration above.) Eww.