00:00The internet is currently enraptured by the poetic and tragic story of this very scary-looking fish.
00:08On February 5th, 2025, Instagram user Condric Tenerife posted footage of a black sea devil
00:13anglerfish swimming vertically up toward the surface of the sea near the coast of Spain.
00:17The caption on the video describes that the footage was taken during a shark research
00:20campaign and credits the team who captured it. The description explains that black sea
00:24devil anglerfish are typically found between 200 and 2,000 meters in depth,
00:28considered the midnight zone of the ocean, meaning that this is a rare occurrence and
00:32may be the first recording of such an incident. They write, the reason for its presence in such
00:36shallow waters is uncertain. It may be due to illness, an upwelling current, or fleeing a
00:40predator. The video is set to the eerie-sounding instrumental music from the Phantom of the Opera.
00:49The same video was shared to TikTok on February 6th by Haranatura, where it garnered a staggering
00:54120 million views in approximately 10 days. Following the virality of the video, it was
00:59reported by the New York Times and other publications that the anglerfish died a few
01:03hours after its rise to the surface, with the team behind the video claiming it was injured,
01:07which was likely the reason it swam toward the surface to begin with. The story of the fish
01:11inspired creators across the web to make art, memes, and other sorts of reactionary content
01:16about the anglerfish who swim up from the depths, with many imagining that the fish was aiming to
01:20see the sun for the first time before dying. For example, on February 9th, TikToker Go Pick
01:25Up Your Book posted a video mashing up the anglerfish video with an unrelated 2024 webcomic
01:31about an anglerfish who surfaces and dies by ex-user Beatle Moses, garnering 5.8 million
01:36views in a week. On February 16th, TikToker Drew J. Garcia posted an animation depicting the
01:41anglerfish swimming to the surface in a Pixar animation style, garnering over 2.1 million views
01:46in a day. The internet would continue to creatively express their sorrow for the
01:50frightening-looking creature's life coming to a poignant and poetic end.
02:16you
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