If you’ve been on TikTok lately, you’ve probably come across a crying girl talking about a deep-sea anglerfish. Yes, a fish. One that looks like it crawled (sorry – swam) out of a horror movie and yet, here we are, collectively sobbing over her tragic journey to the surface. Somehow, this tiny, toothy sea creature has been crowned a feminist icon, and here’s why.
So, what actually happened? A female black seadevil anglerfish swam from the crushing darkness of the deep sea all the way up to the surface, where she was spotted off the coast of Tenerife. It was a big deal scientifically — these fish live 2,000 meters deep, and it’s rare to see one so close to the light. But what really captured the internet’s heart was that she didn’t survive the journey.
Cue millions of TikTokers crying real tears over this little fishy’s ascent. Videos of women weeping, poetic tributes, anglerfish tattoos — the works. People are calling her a symbol of perseverance, of breaking free, of reaching for the light, even if it meant her own demise. Some saw her as a metaphor for every woman who’s ever struggled to escape the darkness, to find something brighter, even if the odds were stacked against her.
Okay, I know this is a stretch and a half but there’s something undeniably powerful about that image — a lone, tiny female fish, rising from the depths she was born into, heading toward a light she’d never known.
HOWEVER – and I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you – the fish probably didn’t swim up with some noble mission to see the light. Experts think she was either sick or got caught in an ocean current, possibly propelled by an expanding gas bubble inside her. Not quite the self-sacrificing hero’s journey TikTok has imagined. More like, the poor thing was struggling and ended up somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be.
It is weird how we do this; project human struggles onto animals, especially the scrappy, underdog types. We’ve done it with the owl that escaped the Central Park Zoo, the seal that swam too far from home, and now, this little anglerfish with her glow stick head and gnarly teeth. We see ourselves in their struggles, their resilience, their tiny acts of rebellion against the natural order.
For women, I suppose the anglerfish hits a nerve. The idea of living your whole life in darkness, surviving off the light you make for yourself. The image of her swimming up, breaking through generations of isolation to finally see the sun — it feels powerful, even if it is just us projecting.
There’s also something kind of poetic about how this fish, a creature often dismissed as hideous or monstrous has become this unlikely symbol of feminine strength. The fact that she was small, alone, and female makes her story even more poignant for the women who see their own struggles reflected in hers.
I get why people latched onto her story. In a world that feels pretty dark most of the time, we’re all kind of desperate for stories of resilience and hope, even if they’re accidental. And there’s something comforting about the idea that even in her final moments, this fish made it to the surface — that she got to see a light that she didn’t create, even if it wasn’t on purpose.
So, yeah, maybe it’s silly to cry over a fish that didn’t know she was becoming a feminist icon. But honestly? If a deep-sea anglerfish can inspire millions of women to feel seen, to feel hopeful, even for a second — I say let her be the icon we need right now.
