The mystery surrounding the black ‘demon fish’ that surfaced in shallow waters has been explained by the scientist who caught the terrifying creature on film.

David Jara Boguñá, a marine researcher, shared new details about the fish seen off the coast from Tenerife, a Spanish island near Morocco in a February 13 Instagram video.

The fish, also known as a deep-sea angler fish, tragically died shortly after making its long journey up, leading to some Gen Z women melting down in tears on TikTok.

This species of fish are usually only found on the seabed at depths of between 200 and 2,000 meters, making its appearance on the surface highly unusual.

Photos Boguñá and his team took of the creature accidentally deceived many into believing it was menacingly huge fish with a mouth full of fangs.

In reality, according to Boguñá, the fish was only about two inches long and could easily fit in someone’s hands or a small jar.

‘To start with the size….the small fish measured no more than six centimeters,’ he said in the video. ‘She was more of a black fritter than a black monster.’

Boguñá, from the conservation organization Condrik Tenerife, also said the fish never attacked him or his colleagues, adding that he was more ‘confused’ by its presence than anything else.

Pictured: The black demon fish, also known as a deep-sea angler fish, that made its way to the surface earlier this month off the coast from Tenerife, a Spanish island near Morocco

David Jara Boguñá, a marine researcher with conservation organization Condrik Tenerife, opened up about his experience with the rare creature, which almost never appears in shallow waters

‘The second most important thing I want to clarify is that it was a female, since the males are no more than two, three centimeters long,’ Boguñá said, clarifying that male anglerfish don’t have the bioluminescent antennae seen on the fish his team discovered.

He also delved into some reasons why the fish might have abandoned its natural habitat deep in the ocean.

‘There has been a lot of hypotheses about it,’ Boguñá said. ‘But the main ones would be that the animal was sick, the animal was swept away upstream or that it was fleeing from sort of predator.’

It also could have ‘ingested some fish, and that at the time of digestion, gases could have caused it to rise to the surface,’ he said.

He also confirmed the fish died shortly after it was discovered and filmed. Its body was donated to the Tenerife Museum of Nature and Archaeology.

The videos of the fish clearly struck a chord with millions of people, many of who posted reactions of themselves crying over the creature’s demise.

Kaleigh, from Chicago, took to social media in floods of tears as she wondered if the fish was ‘proud of herself.’

In a clip, which racked up over 4.6 million views, she said: ‘I can’t stop crying about this small but mighty fish.

Kaleigh, from Chicago, took to social media in floods of tears as she wondered if the fish was ‘proud of herself’

‘Look how tiny she was and she swam that great distance, she just swam all that way on her own and I’m just picturing her swimming up and up and up. And she was so little. And she did that all on her own.’

The inconsolable content creator continued: ‘What do you think she was thinking? Was she proud of herself?’

Belle Perez, who is from Australia but lives in London, shared an illustration of the fish by TikTok creator @sydbecrafty which read: ‘And for my last day… I will go see the sun.’

She captioned the clip: ‘So so beautiful but so f**king sad I’m too fragile for this today!!’

In another clip, TikToker Savannah Belle tried to relay the fish saga to her boyfriend between sobs as he asked in disbelief ‘this is not about a f**king anglerfish.’

Bawling Savannah added: ‘Well, you know they live in the ocean and only produce light themselves, there was an anglerfish that swam to the surface in broad daylight and died.’

Social media user Frankie shared a video of the fish swimming to the surface, which gained over 75,000 views.

She captioned the video: ‘The fact that this anglerfish travelled over 200 miles from the dark, swimming over two weeks straight to see the light really makes me sad.’