Chilling moment 'demon fish' is captured in daylight for the first time ever

Stills from footage of the creature

It’s thought to be the first time an adult has in broad daylight. (Image: TikTok / @jara.natura)

Chilling footage shows the moment researchers encountered a terrifying deep-sea , in what is thought to be the first video of an adult so close to the surface.

Scientists believe it may be the first-ever sighting of a fully-gown abyssal fish, known among researchers as Melanocetus johnsonii, from the family Melanocetidae, or “black sea monster” in Greek.

Commonly referred to a Devil or a Demon, the predator has a terrifying row of sharp teeth and females have a dorsal appendage which is full of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria used to lure unsuspecting prey.

It was spotted in off the coast of , the largest of Spain’s

Photographer David Jara Boguñá, a scientist with Condrik Tenerife NGO shared a video of the encounter on social media, and used Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera: Overture as a fittingly ominous sound track.

¡¡Podría tratarse del primer avistamiento registrado en el mundo de un diablo negro o rape abisal adulto (Melanocetus johnsonii) vivo, a plena luz del día y en la superficie!! Un pez legendario que pocas personas habrán tenido el privilegio de observar con vida. Al parecer, los registros existentes hasta la fecha corresponden a larvas, ejemplares adultos muertos o grabados con submarinos. Emergiendo de las profundidades abisales en natación vertical, frente a tan solo 2 km de la costa de Tenerife y durante una campaña de investigación de tiburones pelágicos organizada por la ONG Condrick-Tenerife IG @Condrik_tenerife, la bióloga (IG @laiavlr) detectó este ser en superficie. Acto seguido, los biólogos Marc Martín (IG @vidamarina.tenerife) , Antonio Sabuco (IG @sabu726) , y yo mismo (IG @jara.natura) registraron imágenes espectaculares e inusuales del animal. Se trata de un verdadero depredador de las profundidades, que habita en el fondo marino entre los 200 y los 2000m de profundidad y que utiliza su apéndice dorsal repleto de bacterias simbióticas bioluminiscentes a modo de cebo para atraer a sus presas, de la misma forma que en la popular película de “Buscando a Nemo”. El motivo de su presencia en aguas tan superficiales es incierto. Puede que por enfermedad, una corriente ascendente, huyendo de un depredador, etc. Su género “Melanocetus” significa literalmente “monstruo marino negro”, un nombre que no sorprende con estas imágenes. Ampliamente distribuido, habita los mares tropicales y subtropicales de todo el mundo, siendo citado por primera vez en las costas de Madeira. Este sorprendente hallazgo no dejó a la tripulación indiferente y será recordado para siempre. @DIVEVOLK_ES @Cressi 1946 @Mares @National Geographic España @Nat Geo Animals @National Geographic @National Geographic TV @bbcearth

In his post on , Boguñá wrote that the creature is a “legendary fish that few people will have had the privilege of observing alive”, and believes it’s the first time an adult has been “alive, in broad daylight and on the surface”.

The creature was seen during Shark Research Campaign by the NGO, who are unsure as to why the fish (which is normally found between 200 and 2,000 below the surface) came up to shallow waters, .

Condrik Tenerife said it may have been due to “illness, an upstream, fleeing a predator, etc”.

Past sightings have “mostly consisted of larvae, dead adults, or specimens spotted by submarines during deep-sea scientific expeditions,” it said.

[REPORT]

The organisation researches sharks and rays in the Canaries, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa.

The creature is also known as also know the humpback anglerfish, anglerfish, viperfish or fangtoothfish, according to Animal Encylopedia .

Condrik Tenerife said the remarkable sighting “will be remembered forever”.

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