Have you ever heard of the anglerfish? It’s one of those profoundly unusual looking deep water fish that live towards the bottom of the ocean. You know the kind of fish that’s almost translucent with a squished head that nightmares are made of? Well, it turns out the unique look is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the anglerfish.
There’s been a viral post going around social media explaining all about this fish’s mating habits and It’s giving people the willies. Well, while it’s giving some people the creeps, there are a select few that wouldn’t mind if humans had similar mating rituals. Though, with this fish’s habits, mating only happens once and then the male ceases to exist.
This isn’t some sort of black widow or preying mantis situation, no one’s heads are being eaten. But according to the infographic, and science, the anglerfish male attaches to the female and fuses with her body unable to survive without her.
Yep. That’s a thing. The male fish is a lot smaller than the female fish so she can have multiple males fuse onto her at the same time. After the male fuses to the female, the female essentially begins to absorb them, sharing their skin and circulatory system.
This level of intimacy seems to be a bit on the excessive side and likely not what was meant by becoming “one with your partner,” which is why people finding out this information for the first time are having some uncomfortable feelings. But aside from all of the “ewws” were hilarious jokes from commenters trying to work out the relationship mechanics.”That’s way more than I want to do,” one person jokes.
“This is the kind of love that humans describe when they say when you get married, your bodies become one. But, we didn’t mean it literally,” someone says.
“So glad humans don’t do this. It would really complicate divorce proceedings,” another added.
‘“Hey I know we just met and all, but I’m really feeling a connection here. How bout I merge into your body, and share your bloodstream. Whaddya say?”,’ someone writes.
The nonscientific fish experts may just now be finding out this information, but this isn’t new and the reason behind them even being able to fuse together is interesting. There are multiple species of anglerfish and while most mate without fusing, some species are quite literally stuck together once they’ve picked a mate.
This is because there’s something missing in their immune system that tells the female there’s something foreign in her body to fight it off. Since her immune system doesn’t recognize the invader as an invader, the male anglerfish becomes parasitic in a more literal way than the ex that won’t get off of your couch.
It doesn’t sound like either fish has much of a say so in what happens to their bodies when they mate. And since there’s no fish interpreters, there’s really no way to tell if the male anglerfish understand that once they mate they can never let go. What a wild ride through science that sadly for the male anglerfish, they can never get off. No pun intended.