Over the last month I have been following the progress of a brooding Tasseled Anglerfish (Rhycherus filamentosus) with a clutch of eggs.

I have been quite wrong about hatching timing with my first prediction being the last week of October. Finally the little guys are hatching and on this dive I save and watch for nearly an hour as some of the little anglerfish worked their way out of the casing. This is where it gets interesting.

During the early stages it looked like the clutch was attached to the back wall of some structure and the parent lay against the eggs to guard them. On this dive I watch the parent collected the the large mass into a single large clump and vigorously shake them sending little anglerfish who had hatched but were stuck in the egg-mass to be thrown clear.

In this image you can count at least two babies already clear and the one in the centre just emerging from its shell.

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 676, Birthing Anglerfish’, 1/100s f/16 ISO320 100mm+20mmExt