When scientists started to capture anglerfish they noticed that all of their specimens were female, never once did they find a male. Almost all of the fish they caught had what seemed to be parasites attached to them, but they turned out to be the males.
On the left is the female anglerfish, and on the right is the male. In most of the males the ability to eat is stunned, so to survive they must find a mate. The male will bite into a females body and release an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing them together and even sharing blood vessels. The male then begins to deteriorate until his nothing more than a reproductive organ that releases sperm at the females will. More than one male can be attached to a female.
