A recent viral video captures a black seadevil anglerfish swimming near the surface of the ocean near the Canary Islands, her light-producing esca cast back, her face angled up towards the dappled sunlight. The video is not even 30 seconds long. Reports say that she died soon after the video was filmed, likely due to the change in pressure from her normal environment, thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface where her bioluminescence creates the only light. Some scientists online estimate that it could’ve taken her weeks to swim up to the surface, especially considering that this species is no bigger than an adult human hand.
The scientific corner of the internet is quick to point out this milestone, as anglerfish are rarely seen by humans, and this is the only known recording that exists of this species swimming so close to the surface.
@camshaw_ i’ve been crying over this anglerfish all morning 🌊🐠 her symbolism is so beautiful 🤍 • • • • • • • #anglerfish #deepsea #ocean #fish #history #marinebiology ♬ Jacob and the Stone – Emile Mosseri
Yet, even those who aren’t focused on the science have been drawn to this viral video. The fish’s journey from the dark depths of the ocean toward the sun has raised existential questions and brought about deep emotions. As various comments to reaction videos have stated:
“I have carried my own lantern through a world that never saw me, yet I long for a sun that will never rise in my sky.”
“And for my last day, I will see the sun.”
“She finally saw a light she didn’t have to create herself.”
Time and time again, social media proves itself to be a terrifying and brutal place. People who are bullied by others; bigotries like White supremacy, gender-based discrimination and xenophobia (among many others) are given a megaphone; echo chambers get louder and louder.
@diegogalileo Angler fish making me cry 😭 #greenscreen #anglerfish #emotional #animation ♬ original sound – Diego Ríos
Yet, here comes the anglerfish, a tiny species often called one of the ugliest animals on earth, and the internet is fixated on her beauty and strength. During a season full of chaotic, disheartening news, this little fish carried a light of hope.
The anglerfish seems to remind us that is a beautiful mystery to the world around us. In our human nature, we are limited in what we experience, and the scope of what we don’t know will always outweigh what little we do know.
This short, viral video – and the reaction to it – reminds me of the divine gift of curiosity, the opportunity to explore and discover exciting and beautiful things about the world. These new discoveries challenge us, making us question our perception of the world, flipping what we think we know upside down.
@princessleiatheiggy In memory of that anglerfish we’re still crying about, Leia now identifies as one. 🥹 😭#anglerfish #foryoupage #iggy ♬ som original – WE ARE 00h.03m 🇨🇭
And the result of this curious thinking? Hope. When we ask questions and broaden our perspectives, we affirm that our knowledge is limited, and we are open to knowing more. When we are curious, we make a commitment to trying — trying to inquire, trying to discover, trying to connect.
In Hope: A User’s Manual, MaryAnn McKibben Dana writes that hope is not optimism, anticipating the best outcome despite the facts. Rather, hope is a commitment to reframing and possibility. Hope acknowledges that “things just suck” sometimes. Yet, “a hopeful orientation ruminates, turning the situation over and over, refusing to give up on possibility.”
Hope is a refusal to give up.
The truth behind this video is awful. Something, whether it be an environmental consequence of climate change, an illness or a predator, caused this anglerfish to swim toward the surface, a place where she should not have been and a place that caused her to die.
Yet, in a way no one can truly explain or understand, people on the internet found something beautiful in her. Beyond the facts, thirsty for hope, they saw another truth: an anglerfish not stopping until she reached the surface, not giving up her chance to see the sun.
Hope persists in both the glimpses of heaven and the worst-case scenarios, encouraging us and motivating us to never give up.
Hope is what keeps us moving forward.
Hope is a refusal to give up.
Hope is the certainty that a new world is possible if we just keep trying, even if we only get to glimpse its bright dawn at the very end of our lives.
In her long, strenuous journey to see the sunlight, this beautiful little anglerfish showed us the way of hope in a place where hope can be so hard to find.
May we never give up.
