The underwater Okeanus Explorer caught on film a rare ghost fish last week—a dream sighting for some experts.
The fish, which is presumed to belong to the Aphyonidae family, was filmed by the Okeanus Explorer during an expedition of the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.
The 10 centimeter long elusive fish, which was discovered at about 2,500 meters deep, has never been seen alive before.
“This is just remarkable,” said Dr Bruce Mundy, from the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service about the eel-like translucent fish.
“This is really an unusual sighting,” Mundy said. “A lot of them are only known from single specimens collected by deep sea trawling or dredges.”
Ghost fish are transparent with gelatinous skin; they lack scales and eye pigment.
Some interns with the Okeanos Explorer team compared the fish to Falkor, the luckdragon from “The Neverending Story.”
The Okeanos Explorer team are currently conducting research in deep water areas of the Commonwealth of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Here is an amazing jellyfish with lights that was seen in April in the Mariana Trench.
NOAA invites anyone with an internet connection to follow the expedition LIVE, with dives happening between now and July 8.
Friends Read Free