When the staff at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County first got their hands on their new Himantolophus sagamius, an anglerfish also known as the Pacific footballfish, it was hard to make sense of the specimen’s appearance. After the deep-sea dweller washed up on the shore of Crystal Cove State Park in May, someone promptly stashed it in a garbage bag and tucked it in the freezer. By the time William Ludt, assistant curator of ichthyology, finagled the fish for the museum’s collection and drove his truck down…
