Do your kids love animals that look a bit scary? Meet the creepy-looking deep-sea anglerfish with built-in nightlights as well as an invisibility cloak. Anglerfish like to live at dark and chilly depths – around 500 m to 5 000 meters below sea level. Our knowledge about the deep sea is still very limited. Something that is a serious problem when it comes to protecting the sea. Limited knowledge impacts on our capacity to predict, for example, future responses of deep-sea creatures to changing global environmental conditions.
Exploring deep-sea organisms is a great way to ignite a sense of wonder. Use a resource about the anglerfish the first days back to school or as part of a project about scary and ugly-looking creatures – perfect for Halloween.
It is lonely lightless and dark deep down in the sea and the best way to attract other creatures in a dark place is to produce light. The female anglerfish lures other fish with its luminescent flesh growth that comes out of its big head. The fishing rob is just in front of its huge mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. The mouth is so big that the fish can swallow prey that are up to twice their own size. Their body has also developed a way to avoid illuminating themselves since every time a creature lights up, it risks being seen by predators.
You’ll find the resource here and here.
Biomimicry for Young Children 