Anglerfish are usually found in water thousands of feet deep, beyond the range of any sunlight. Because they live in total darkness they are colored completely black, and their eyes are extremely small (used only to detect the presence of glowing prey).

Perhaps the most unusual adaptation is the large appendage above its head. The tips of the appendage glow or bioluminesce and act as a lure to attract other fish. Once other fish come to investigate this lighted lure, they are quickly, in far less than a second, engulfed by the stationary anglerfish. The extremely large mouth with rows of needle-like teeth can catch anything that swims along. Anglerfish are able to eat prey larger than themselves because their stomach can expand to several times its normal size.

This rare fish was taken by Greg Boy, a local fisherman, on Dec 28, 1989 about 20 miles south of San Clemente Island (off the California coast). This is only the tenth of this kind of football fish ever caught.