A Pacific Football Fish, which is a type of Angler Fish that resides at depths of over 1,000 feet in the ocean, washed up on the shores of Crystal Cove State Park in California on May 7, 2021.
A Pacific Football Fish, which is a type of Angler Fish that resides at depths of over 1,000 feet in the ocean, washed up on the shores of Crystal Cove State Park in California on May 7, 2021.
A rarely-seen fish that lives thousands of feet deep in the ocean somehow managed to wash up on the shore of a California Beach on Friday, CNN reports.

Representatives with Crystal Cove State Park Pacific say a type of Angler Fish called a Pacific Football Fish washed up on the shores of Newport Beach, about 60 miles south of Santa Monica.

Unique in appearance, the Pacific Football Fish was quickly spotted by a beachgoer who reported it to officials.

State Park representatives said it's pretty rare to find an angler fish intact, and they aren't quite sure how the fish washed ashore.


The representatives described some of the outstanding features of the rarely-seen animal in a Facebook post, saying, "Their teeth, like pointed shards of glass, are transparent and their large mouth is capable of sucking up and swallowing prey the size of their own body. While females can reach lengths of 24 inches, males only grow to be about an inch long and their sole purpose is to find a female and help her reproduce. Males latch onto the female with their teeth and become 'sexual parasites,' eventually coalescing with the female until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction."

The female Pacific Football Fish is one of about 1,500 bioluminescent fish, meaning she is able to emit light. Residing in ocean waters as deep as 3,000 feet, her light attracts prey in the dark, murky waters of her home.

USA Today notes that the fish is currently in custody of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Source: CNN