Scary-looking black seadevil fish filmed off the Spanish coast in Tenerife for the very first time

It is a true deep-sea predator that normally lives on the seabed and uses its dorsal appendage full of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria as bait to attract its prey

SUR

Malaga

Friday, 7 February 2025, 16:59

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) Condrik-Tenerife has published the first images of a live adult black seadevil fish, also known as monkfish or anglerfish, which was spotted on 26 January in broad daylight and near the surface, just two kilometres off the coast of Tenerife. The sighting is a very rare occurrence on the Spanish coast.

After Valencian marine biologist Laia Valor spotted the fish on the surface, biologists Marc Martín and Antonio Sabuco, together with marine wildlife photographer David Jara, captured some unique images of the animal.

It happened near San Juan beach, in the Tenerife municipality of Guía de Isora. According to Valor, until now only larvae or dead adult specimens have been seen so close to the surface. "It is a very rare and unusual sighting. We can't say that it never happens, but this might be the first time it has been recorded like this," she said. The fish eventually died and, after verifying its state, the biologists they collected it as a sample in a water-filled raft and transferred it to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (Muna) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The black seadevil is a legendary fish that few people have had the privilege of observing alive, as NGO Condrik Tenerife has pointed out in an Instagram post. It is a true deep-water predator that lives on the seabed between 200 and 2,000 under the surface and uses its dorsal appendage full of symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria as bait to attract its prey.

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