A Pacific Footballfish Touches Down at Birch Aquarium

This deep-sea specimen will be on display at the aquarium from March 25 to April 24, 2022. For a limited time, guests can see a Pacific Footballfish—a rare deep-sea specimen—on display in Oddities: Hidden Heroes of the Scripps Collections at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. This deep-sea fish washed up near Encinitas last December and is one of only 31 known specimens collected worldwide. The preserved fish will be on display at Birch Aquarium from March 25 to April 24, 2022. "This is a very exciting discovery as scientists, let alone the public, rarely get a chance to interact with this species! Being the 31st ever collected, this is a rare find and not something you will likely see in an aquarium. Each specimen can teach us something new about footballfish and life in the deep-sea in general!", said Ben Frable, collection manager of marine vertebrates at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Pacific Footballfish are one of the largest species of anglerfish—this specimen is female and about 15.5 inches long and weighs 5.5 pounds.