Crystal Cove was pristine, as the name suggests, with its misty air and migrating dolphins along the Southern California coastline. So just imagine how one of those magical beach walks the park is so famous for was disturbed when some black terror of the deep washed up on shore (again), as it did last Friday the 13th. Some visitors might reel in horror at the sight; those less squeamish might, in pure fascination, be lured to look closer at this football-sized, toothed curiosity of the deep sea.
This alien-like swimmer is, in fact, a Pacific football fish, a type of deep-sea predator from the larger family of anglerfish (there are more than 200 different species of anglerfish). Its bumpy, blob-like body glistened in the waves on the shore; its multiple rows of transparent, sharp teeth shone like pointed shards of glass.
