Scientists still know relatively little about the creatures lurking in the oceanic abyss. The total absence of light, immense pressure, and general inhospitable nature of the more extreme depths effectively shields many bottom dwellers from academic scrutiny. However, on overcast nights when even shallower waters can turn jet-black, certain species sojourn under cover of darkness nearer the surface. Such rare occurrences offer invaluable opportunities for study as well as unexpected hazards. For this reason, many beaches post advisory warnings and prohibitions against night swimming.

This careless skinny dipper provides revelatory insights into the habits and hunting adaptations of the giant deep-sea angler fish. Observational evidence originally suggested that the creature's bio-luminescent lure mimics the movements of prey animals which draws the attention of victims. This particular prey, however, demonstrates a very different mechanism at work, somehow inducing in the brain a mesmeric, near dissociative state. The now pacified victim takes virtually no notice of the fish's true body, even as its jaws prepare to envelop her.

The giant deep-sea angler has long been a research enigma, the species' large size given the scant biomass present at its preferred depths being a particular mystery. New data related to their lure's effect on large mammals may indicate encounters with these creatures are more far frequent than previously thought.
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I'm not dead...again! I had a rare moment of inspiration, a fun idea I had to get on paper before it flitted away. A person being mesmerized by an angler fish lure is a notion I find very funny for some reason.

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