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San Diego has a reputation for serving great seafood, but we’ve been in the news lately for the marine life that washed up on our shores.
Last week, a Pacific soccer fish, an extremely rare deep-sea anglerfish, was seen that washed up on Black’s Beach as a cameo in “Finding Nemo”. On Tuesday, beach goers discovered a 1.2 meter-long live lancetfish that was itself stranded near the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) north of La Jolla Shores.
The hermaphroditic lancetfish are nowhere near as rare as Pacific soccer fish, according to Scripps researchers, but they may be just as interesting. Here is what we learned about the species, and some of the many mysteries Lancetfish researchers are trying to solve.
Do they taste good?
Sorry to disappoint you, but Lancetfish tacos will never be the menu item that will earn your favorite nouveau-chic restaurant a Michelin star. As an ingredient in a can of friskies, it probably couldn’t fit.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) attempted to work with chefs on some type of campaign that would raise awareness of the culinary options for lancet fish. The campaign never really got off the ground (or should we better say ocean floor) because our slim, shiny friends just don’t taste good to people.
However, they are also tasty to other Lancetfish.
The creature was a Pacific soccer fish, a type of deep-sea anglerfish that became famous in “Finding Nemo,” and has a small bioluminescent light on its head that acts as a bait
Are Lancetfish Really Cannibals?
According to Dr. Elan Portner, a postdoctoral fellow at SIO’s Choy Lab, is true. Portner and a team of scientists led by Assistant Professor Dr. Anela Choy at UC San Diego examined the stomach contents of Lancetfish.
They found that Lancetfish seem to enjoy the taste of their own kind. However, it could be a ripeness thing, similar to some people and green vegetables. Choy’s team found that Lancetfish attracts themselves once they reach about 3 feet in length.
Why waiting is a mystery, as are many other aspects of the Lancetfish’s life.
Hermaphroditic fish? Please explain.
That’s another doozy. Lancet fish are called simultaneous hermaphrodites, which means that they have both female and male reproductive organs that produce viable gametes at the same time. Sequential hermaphrodites go through a “switch”.
Scientists don’t know whether Lancetfish can self-reproduce or whether they rely on one or more partners, Portner said. It’s also not clear whether they’re loners or traveling to schools, so vacation time is either incredibly uncomfortable or downright lonely for these canibals.
More about Lancetfish.
The Lancetfish, which landed in La Jolla on Wednesday, is the 17th to be discovered or converted to by the SIO since 1947. The last was in Oceanside in 1996, according to Ben Frable, Marine Vertebrate Collection Manager for the SIO.
SIO 21-37, the catalog name for the newest addition to Frable’s collection, was found alive in La Jolla Shores. The sensitive fish didn’t survive its brief stint on land – or attacks from seagulls – but Frable says SIO 21-37 is being kept to potentially help researchers hundreds of years. He said the oldest specimen in his collection was a rockfish that had survived since 1881.
Frable believes SIO 21-37 got lost while hunting for prey or was chased off course in front of a predator.
Portner had no theory of how the Lancetfish ended up on the beach. Although they feed between the surface of the ocean and about 6,000 feet deep, they are rarely spotted in the surf zone, according to Portner. Lancet fish are usually caught by line fishermen looking for swordfish or tuna at depths of 800 to 900 feet.
Researchers know very little about the species, but that’s not because they’re rare. Lancet fish are found in all oceans and are abundant on the high seas, which Portner described as the largest habitat on earth. They are just not easy to observe.
Right now, the Choy Laboratory’s team are hoping to study what the Lancetfish eats in order to unravel the layers of its fascinating life.
In addition to juveniles of their own kind, Lancetfish like to eat hatchet fish, crustaceans, cuttlefish, squid, amphipods and unfortunately also plastic. Portner says that around 30% of the Lancetfish studied tend to have some type of marine debris in their stomachs, including bits of plastic, and sometimes even whole bottles.
Choy laboratory research
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