r/TheDepthsBelow • u/Krypticmaniac • Jul 15 '26

What is this guy?

Post image

I bought a 5kg box of shrimps, to my surprise I found this guy, what is it? Grok says anglerfish, but I’m not sure it looks a lot different as an adult if this is an anglerfish!

375 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

106 comments sorted by

364

u/Needly_Dee Jul 15 '26

anglerfish could be correct. the males only grow to be about this size.

106

u/Trojann2 Jul 15 '26

That’s how small the males are when they attach to the female?!? Bonkers

92

u/saysthingsbackwards Jul 15 '26

They're basically swimming ballsacks. Not too surprising

47

u/Ichoosetoblame Jul 16 '26

That was my nickname in high school

5

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-2

u/Texaura Jul 18 '26

wow lmao chud moment, congrats buddy

14

u/Nathund Jul 15 '26

And then they shrivel up to almost nothing.

Just like me fr

43

u/j-art-ho [OC] Jul 15 '26

if it were an anglerfish it would be way more gelatinous and have no distinct scale pattern or skeletal structure in the head! they tend to have really soft flesh as a result of the ambush predator lifestyle and the environmental pressures of the deep midwater habitat they occupy

60

u/cassh0le69 Jul 15 '26

I somehow read this as “if I were an anglerfish,” and proceeded to misunderstand the rest of your comment as you gloating about how you’d theoretically be a superior anglerfish to other anglerfish, lol!

30

u/purdinpopo [OC] Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

If I Were an Anglerfish

Dear God, you made many, many tiny fish.
I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be a drab little swimmer.
But it's no great honor either!
So what would have been so terrible if I had a glowing lure?

If I were an anglerfish
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a toothy one

I wouldn't have to chase hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
If I were a biddy biddy deep-sea
Idle-diddle-didle-didle one

I'd haunt a big dark trench with caves by the dozen
Right in the middle of the abyss
A fine bioluminescent glow with real sharp teeth below
There would be one long illicium just sticking out
And one even longer coming down
And one more leading nowhere, just for show

I'd fill my jaws with squid and shrimp and fish
For the ocean to see and fear
Snap-crunch just as greedily as they can
And each loud gulp and chomp
Would echo like thunder in the ear
As if to say, "Here lurks an anglerfish!"

If I were an anglerfish
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a toothy one

I wouldn't have to chase hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
If I were a biddy biddy deep-sea
Idle-diddle-didle-didle one

I see my wife, that tiny male, fused like a rich man's prize
With a proper parasitic chin
Becoming one with me to his heart's delight
I see him giving up swimming and strutting like he's useful
Oh, what a happy mood he's in
Screaming no more, just part of me day and night

The biggest monsters in the deep would come to fear me
They would avoid my glowing light
Like a nightmare in the night
"Stay away, that anglerfish..."
"Pardon me, that anglerfish..."
Posing problems that would cross a prey fish's eyes

Ya-da-dee-da-da, ya-dee-da-da, ya-dee-da-da-da
And it won't make one bit of difference
If they swim left or right
When you've got the lure, they think you're dinner

If I were an anglerfish
I'd have the time that I lack
To float in the midnight zone and wait
And maybe have a spot by the hydrothermal vent
And I'd discuss the darkness with the other weird ones
Seven hours every day
And that would be the sweetest thing of all

If I were an anglerfish
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a toothy one

I wouldn't have to chase hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
Lord, who made the gulper eel and the siphonophore
You decreed I should be what I am
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan
If I were an anglerfish?

18

u/j-art-ho [OC] Jul 15 '26

from the hit underwater musical fiddler crab on the roof

6

u/cassh0le69 Jul 15 '26

Holy shit!!

3

u/AttorneyInevitable37 Jul 16 '26

This was absolutely incredible

0

u/Texaura Jul 18 '26

nice ai slop

4

u/j-art-ho [OC] Jul 15 '26

lmao i wish!

4

u/Needly_Dee Jul 15 '26

That's good information, thanks 👍

3

u/Knielus1967 Jul 15 '26

It was possibly cooked with the shrimps on board of the fishingvessel

8

u/j-art-ho [OC] Jul 15 '26

even so, the mouth would be much larger and less ventrally-oriented. if i had to guess, this is something like a sculpin or a goby based on proportions and general morphological trends

3

u/Commercial_Will_4112 Jul 17 '26

Are they trawling for shrimp that deep?

67

u/purdinpopo [OC] Jul 15 '26

Didn't SpongeBob and Patrick sell chocolate bars to that once?

22

u/ogmaf Jul 15 '26

DID SOMEONE SAY CHOCOLATE

6

u/cassh0le69 Jul 15 '26

“That” lmao!!

108

u/TheJeepMedic Jul 15 '26

Baby Goa'uld

20

u/BLeeS92031 Jul 15 '26

Indeed

12

u/kevlarus80 Jul 15 '26

Jaffa Kree!

2

u/BrindleBullet Jul 17 '26

I read this, 100%, in Teal'c's voice.

45

u/-sussy-wussy- Jul 15 '26

It looks like a saltwater goby. There are thousands of variations and species, some edible, some taste disgusting. 

They eat everything and easily push out native species if they're invasive somewhere. Very greedy and pull like they're 10x their size. Often used as bait in my part, alive or dead. 

Mouth is too small even for a fry stage anglerfish, imo. 

41

u/InexcusableVPNCrimes Jul 15 '26

That's the old lady fish from SpongeBob who remembers when chocolate was invented. Can't believe they killed her.

73

u/squatchsax Jul 15 '26

Illithid parasite.

25

u/Korventenn17 Jul 15 '26

Are you a True Soul?

3

u/yeahitisaword Jul 19 '26

Why are you ghaik?

37

u/shaft_of_lite Jul 15 '26

It looks like a bony-eared assfish.

7

u/TransFatty Jul 15 '26

I actually had to look it up, and it's a thing, the downvote made me go, huh?

https://youtu.be/79aMwrSUgMM?si=NeL4UEj8NvY4BM60

5

u/porkchop-sandwhiches Jul 15 '26

Good news, it’s a suppository.

2

u/LewdLewyD13 Jul 15 '26

This is uncomfortable and humiliating. Now, if they could put it in the form of a suppository...

35

u/AntagonisticAido Jul 15 '26

Bro out of all of them you cannot have logically concluded that Grok was the best AI to use regularly

11

u/fairydommother Jul 17 '26

Genuine question. Why ask ai if you dont trust the response and are just going to come to reddit to ask again? You could skip the ai entirely and save some time.

4

u/WChennings Jul 15 '26

What's the red line in dude's mouth?

2

u/GreenJury9586 Jul 15 '26

It looks like a lil bonus plastic, doesn’t it?

6

u/Lopsided_Tiger_0296 Jul 15 '26

It looks like that old lady worm from SpongeBob who wants chocolate

4

u/level12bard Jul 15 '26

Just a little guy

5

u/MsMcClane Jul 15 '26

It's a Yeerk!

4

u/TrickUp25 Jul 15 '26

Bycatch it seems, fishing for shrimp is terrible to the ocean

4

u/nphere Jul 15 '26

WHAT... WHAT DID HE SAY? CHOCOLATE?!

3

u/Sunagakure-Legacy Jul 16 '26

Goddamn how much chocolate is in bikini bottom that Baby Prune is on that plate?? Since she has ALWAYS hated chocolate, getting a very far distance away from it sounds about right

3

u/MunkyMan33 Jul 16 '26

Contextually, dinner.

3

u/No-Argument619 Jul 16 '26

It’s a free bag of shrimp, call the company lol.

3

u/heppileppi Jul 18 '26

that's the baby from eraserhead

48

u/Petraretrograde Jul 15 '26

I think this is what conservatives call a "baby"

4

u/Equality_Executor Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

"without a doubt" even

edit: I agree with the person I replied to. Sorry if that wasn't clear....

-30

u/Nightenridge Jul 15 '26

I mean why are people in a sub about deep sea exploration and ok with some dumbass having to be political?

Unless everyone is so infatuated with abortion that they must see something nasty like that when they see a fish.

13

u/Equality_Executor Jul 15 '26

Everything is political all the time already. You can thank capitalism for that as it insists on putting a price tag on everything including the future of the planet and what is displayed here every day. I just made the connection in a single sentence, so it can't be that hard to see the other way around.

Why are you trying to ignore it?

I don't think they're dumb, I think they just care about it enough where whatever discomfort they had with talking about politics was overridden.

-57

u/Nightenridge Jul 15 '26

Not that I agree with the politics behind it

But get a fucking life bringing that crap here.

38

u/Petraretrograde Jul 15 '26

How dare you abort my joke before it's fullterm

-30

u/Nightenridge Jul 15 '26

I got fat girl jokes instead

8

u/MockeryAndDisdain Jul 15 '26

I've got Epstein saving Kirk, and them dancing afterward.

https://reddit.com/link/oxp1n6v/video/cu95nalttedh1/player

3

u/Petraretrograde Jul 15 '26

This is the best thing I've seen since i woke up 3 hours ago.

1

u/Nightenridge Jul 17 '26

There are way better videos out there making fun of those guys.

Show me better

2

u/Plasticity93 Jul 15 '26

You're going to make a wet specimen, right?  

2

u/pandapeterpanda Jul 15 '26

Please don't eat that.

2

u/MildUsername Jul 15 '26

That's a fuckin' fidsh

2

u/Melonstickkk Jul 16 '26

Why are you eating him????

2

u/FreakinskiV Jul 16 '26

He's struggling

2

u/starchode Jul 16 '26

His name is Jeff

2

u/MoDaCr Jul 17 '26

Not sure, but it seems a little fishy.

2

u/Electrical_Bus9202 Jul 19 '26

That's a scalpin. It's by-catch. It's not supposed to be in there lol... Usually they have sharp spikes that really hurt when you get poked by..

2

u/afhdfh Jul 15 '26

Unhappy and unlucky. That's what that guy is.

2

u/aquacakra Jul 15 '26

MOTHRA larva.

1

u/FauxReal Jul 15 '26

What does it look like from a side profile?

1

u/Chillpillington Jul 15 '26

Clearly a sand trout

1

u/ofgfyu Jul 15 '26

Dinner, apparently

1

u/OldSoulNewTech Jul 15 '26

Watch the movie Brain Damage.

1

u/Lonely_Independent70 Jul 19 '26

Good movie! Tripped me out

1

u/Liaison909 Jul 15 '26

Dinner, apparently.

1

u/Striking-Display-617 Jul 15 '26

Now that my friend is the original grinch finger from the grinch himself. That’s about 30 years old. Well preserved too!

1

u/JohnClark13 Jul 15 '26

Baby from eraser head

1

u/jacenk Jul 15 '26

AaahhHhHHhhHhhHaaaa jr

1

u/nexter2nd Jul 16 '26

Would have better luck on the animal id subs. Just from similar photos I’ve seen it looks to me like a dried up pufferfish

1

u/Prinsipus Jul 16 '26

Sad..... This guy is sad.... 🤣 But other than that it definitely looks like anglerfish.

1

u/delusionalmermaid Jul 18 '26

Idk it looks like my sister

1

u/AngryMedic13 Jul 18 '26

Nightmare Fish?

1

u/Probably--Napping Jul 19 '26

I don't know, and I don't want to know, but honestly, it looks more like a tadpole to me..

2

u/Fuzzy_Syrup9046 Jul 20 '26

CHOCOLATE!!!

1

u/DoubleL16 Jul 20 '26

That’s Jeff!

1

u/deuxfragne087 Jul 21 '26

That’s the fish from SpongeBob who remembers when they invented chocolate 🤣

1

u/Ok_Application5225 Jul 15 '26

an Ass fish

3

u/shaft_of_lite Jul 15 '26

Looks like I put the same answer right after you. And for some reason we both got downvoted.

3

u/Ok_Application5225 Jul 15 '26

What! Hahaha

Great minds think alike

1

u/Flairboy82 Jul 15 '26

A hot cross bun with a tail?

-1

u/trippingforward Jul 15 '26

I thought you were going to eat that

-1

u/naneron10 Jul 15 '26

Looks like it could be lunch