A San Diego man walking on Black's Beach found an ultra-rare deep-sea creature that was washed up ashore last weekend.

Ultra-Rare Deep-Sea Creature Shocks Walking Man in San Diego Beach

The man, identified as Jay Beiler, was out walking the strand beneath the Glider Port in Torrey Pines last Saturday when he found an unusual sea creature. Beiler said that it was almost sunset at around 4:40 p.m. when he stumbled upon the deep-sea animal.

During an interview, the San Diego man said that he had never seen anything quite like it before despite the fact that he was on the beach fairly often. He said that he was familiar with the territory, but he had never seen an organism that looked quite as fearsome as the deep-sea creature.

Beiler added that at first, he thought that it was like a jellyfish but when he went and looked at it a little more, he realized that what he saw was a very unusual fish. The San Diego man said that it was like one of the creatures that people could find in their nightmares.

Beiler snapped three photos of the beast that he found on the shore.

However, it was days later that he decided to send the photos of the ultra-rare creature to the news agency NBC 7. The photos show a mouthful of glistening knife-sharp-looking teeth, plentiful spikes bristling from its sides, and an unusual projectile flowing out of its forehead.

The news agency then reached out to some scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to have some answers regarding the rare animal that washed up in San Diego.

According to NBC San Diego, the collection manager of the marine vertebrate collection at Scripps, Ben Frable, said that the ultra-rare deep-sea creature was one of the larger species of anglerfish. Based on their records, it has only been seen a few times in the state of California, but the marine life expert said that it could be found throughout the Pacific Ocean.

Moreover, Frable said that Beiler's find was a Pacific footballfish. He said that it was a type of deep-sea anglerfish that was made famous in the animated film "Finding Nemo." It was the deep-sea creature with a bioluminescent light on top of its head that acts as a lure.

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Man Found Second Recorded Pacific Footballfish in San Diego

The marine life expert said that it was tough to tell the size of the fish from the photographs sent by Beiler.

Furthermore, Frable said during a Zoom meeting from his lab that Scripps has in its collection another specimen, which was found on Dog Beach in Del Mar in December 2001.

He said that the specimen appeared to be about 18 inches in length and a foot from top to bottom. The one found last week and the one found in 2001 were the only two ever found locally, as far as Frable's research.

Based on the images sent by Beiler, which showed some seaweed in the background, and other clues, Frable said that San Diego's 2021 edition of "Himantolophus sagamius" is smaller, but it was a mature female fish.

The ichthyologist said he could tell that it was a female one because the females of the species have the lure and were much larger that could go up to 60 times bigger compared to their male counterparts, which do not have the gnarly teeth.

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Written by: Jess Smith

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