Just when I thought Finding Nemo would be the only sad fish story I’d ever come across, the anglerfish that’s been all over my TikTok FYP has taken the cake for the saddest fish story. On Feb. 10, news headlines reported on a rare deep-sea anglerfish and its first-ever instance of seeing sunlight.
Normally seen 200-2,000 meters below sea level, this anglerfish had strayed away from the rest of his kind at a chance to see sunlight. Well, at least that’s what I’ll continue to believe because though there could be many reasons as to why this beloved anglerfish came to the surface, no one truly knows. What we do know though is that within a few hours of seeing sunlight, this anglerfish failed to survive and TikTok (and me) couldn’t be sadder.
In fact, users took to TikTok to share their sadness over this fish who made the distance to see sunlight. Who knew a fish that wasn’t fictional could pull at our heartstrings so much? It all started with users expressing their sadness over the fact that the anglerfish made the journey to sunlight and its long journey — swimming so far just to witness sunlight for the first time.
But, it was the size of this beloved fish that really took TikTok by storm. Where people thought it was large (maybe the size of a football), it turned out that this fish was actually teeny tiny, contributing to how emotional its journey to the surface truly was after all. According to TikTok, the viral anglerfish was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, which means it was only a few inches in size.
This sadness stemmed from many users and diverged into its own kind of trend where people shared this with their partners actively as they recorded themselves “crashing out” over the story. Users have even taken it upon themselves to personify this fish they feel so much for, declaring it to be a girl all whilst their partners progressively make matters worse and don’t necessarily follow along with the emotion of this story.
Though the fate of the anglerfish is known and we’re all sad about it, at least we can remember that it had the chance to see sunlight for the first time.