Deep-sea anglerfish: Unusual species glows with bioluminescent and fluorescent light

We already knew that anglerfish have light-generating bacteria in their tissues – now it turns out that one species, the Pacific football fish, can also glow by fluorescing green

By Jake Buehler

Deep-sea anglerfish illuminate their pitch-black home using a lure that contains a colony of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria – but now, researchers have discovered that one anglerfish species creates a glow in a second, unexpected way.

The Pacific footballfish (Himantolophus sagamius) can also biofluoresce, which means it absorbs one wavelength of light and reflects it as a different colour. It’s an ability seldom documented in the ocean’s inky depths, and never seen in anglerfish before.

In May 2021, a dead female footballfish washed up on the …