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The research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, uncovers how these enigmatic creatures defied the odds to diversify in the harsh, resource-poor environment of the bathypelagic zone -- part of the open ocean that extends from 3,300 to 13,000 feet below the ocean's surface.

This ancestor lived on the continental slope before transitioning to the open waters of the bathypelagic zone in a transition that set the stage for rapid evolutionary change.

This finding is the most surprising of the study, for the bathypelagic zone did not constrain evolution as expected despite its apparent lack of ecological diversity.

"With their unique traits like bioluminescent lures and large oral gapes, deep-sea anglerfish may be one of the few documented examples of adaptive radiation in the resource-limited bathypelagic zone," said Evans, a co-corresponding author on the paper and assistant professor of biosciences.

"For example, the idea that all deep-sea life is ancient is clearly wrong; anglerfishes only swam into the open waters of the bathypelagic zone in the last 50 to 60 million years. This is a long time ago, to be sure, but it is much more recent -- on the order of 50-60 million years -- than we inferred previously using smaller DNA datasets and less informative fossils."