Saturday Jun 06, 2026
The Anglerfish Files
Episode Summary
This month on the Deep-Sea Podcast we are honored to host a 3 expert superfan session for one of our favorite little devils of the deep- Anglerfish. Join Thom as he chats with James Maclaine Senior fish curator at the Natural History Museum London and our own Andrew Stewart, curator of fishes at Te Papa, all about some of their favorite fishes, the ceratioid anglerfish (Ceratioidei) or deep-sea anglerfish.
Check out our lovely new website where you can find more detailed notes, images and links to the wider reading.
In this episode…
Welcome back to the Deep-Sea Podcast, your punk take on all things deep sea!
This month Alan has been working on getting a Nova Canton Trough organism menu prepared while Thom has been appearing on and hosting numerous podcast episodes while planning a workshop, fostering kittens and taking a good look at the newest snailfish.
For our interview we are honored to host a three expert superfan session for one of our favorite little devils of the deep- Anglerfish. Join Thom as he chats with James Maclaine Senior fish curator at the Natural History Museum London and our own Andrew Stewart, curator of fishes at Te Papa get together about some of their favorite fishes, the ceratioid anglerfish or deep-sea anglerfish.
Listen-in to back-stage fish curator chat all about the wide variety of Anglerfish shapes and sizes, lures and lights, feeding preferences, reproduction habits, feminist archetypes, game show personalities, and a memorable experience of "pass the football fish". Including Vantablack, pharyngeal teeth, Dreamers, Wonderfish, sideways anuses, love bites, and an epic battle resulting in both combatants being “locked together in death”, this episode will scratch your Anglerfish itch in the most satisfying way.
We also hear from friend of the show Kat Bolstad with her professional opinion on the recently released giant cretaceous octopus paper, and Kat gives a lovely reading from Prema Arasu’s new book of poetry titled Vampire Squid.
In the news, get ready for updates on:
- The largest sponge ever found
- A thousand year coral crisis
- Mystery of the golden orb revealed
- Which fish is diving into the exit end of a manta-ray
- Who is eating the English coast octopus bloom
- And real life Goblins
Discord update
- Silk glands
- Behind the scenes fish curator photos
- Fossil hunts and Trawling adventures
- Alvin Submersible internship
- Wellington Board Game Festival in-person interview
- Merch from our friends, terrible Ai photos, new tattoos and more!
Support the show
The podcast is self-sustaining (just) thanks to our lovely listeners. Thom and Alan take no money for the show. All money is put back into running it. Here’s a link to our page on how to support us, from the free options to becoming a patron of the show. We want to say a huge thank you to those patrons who have already pledged to support us:
Lain Null, Семен Приймаченко, Prof.Bob-o-lo-po-lis, Jamie Morgan, Brent S, Ayla
Check out our podcast merch here!
Feel free to get in touch with us with questions or your own tales from the high seas on:
We’d love to actually play your voice, so feel free to record a short audio note on our brand new answerphone!
https://www.speakpipe.com/deepseapodvoicemail
Thanks again for tuning in; we’ll deep-see you next time!
Find out more
Social media
BlueSky: @deepseapod.com
Twitter: @DeepSeaPod
Instagram: @deepsea_podcast
Keep up with the team on social media
Twitter:
Alan - @Hadalbloke
Thom - @ThomLinley
Instagram:
Thom - @thom.linley
Inkfish - @inkfishexpeditions
BlueSky:
Thom @thomaslinley.com
Alan @hadalbloke
Credits
Image credit:
References
Appearances and Collaborations
- Reef Chats: Ocean Art & Science Conversations | Moku Art Studio
- Atacama Trench Snailfishes VS Abyssal Plains Assfishes! On Fish of the Week Podcast with Dr. Thom Linley
Guest Speaker Links
- Giant, kraken-like octopuses may have ruled the Cretaceous deep
- Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans | Science
- Vampire Squid - Fremantle Press
Deep-Sea News
- Lost millennium of Galápagos deep-sea corals linked to major Pacific climate shift
- A millennium of cold-water coral habitat loss in the East Pacific during low ENSO variability in the mid- to late Holocene | PNAS
- Record-Breaking Deep-Sea ‘Ocean Monster’ the Size of a Car Stuns Scientists off Hawaii (Video)
- Drapery and the secret history of painting
- Scientists reveal identity of mysterious ‘golden orb’ collected during NOAA expedition | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Mitogenomics suggests a sister relationship of Relicanthus daphneae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: incerti ordinis) with Actiniaria | Scientific Reports
- Mystery Marine Organism Classified as Sea Anemone | AMNH
- Hiding in Plain Sight: Evidence of Echeneidae Cloacal and Gill Diving Behavior in Manta Ray Hosts - Yeager - 2026 - Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library
- Sucker fish are hiding in manta rays’ ‘butthole,’ new study reveals | Scientific American
- Octopus influx keeping deep sea dolphins inshore for longer
- Future rare octopus blooms 'likely' in UK seas
- First in situ observations of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni - Judah - Journal of Fish Biology - Wiley Online Library
Discord Updates
- https://mateblog.unols.org/author/kencsukas/
- Inside the Sub That Reached Earth's Deepest Point | Bathyscaphe Trieste
- Support Skype a Scientist with the Squid Facts shop!
- Through the Darkening Sea
Interview Links
- Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea
- Lasiognathus - Wikipedia
- Caulophryne polynema - Wikipedia
- Gigantactis - Wikipedia
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_seadevil
Credits
Image credit
Logo image: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
No comments yet. Be the first to say something!