“This is just remarkable.” That’s how Bruce Mundy, fishery biologist with the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, described seeing live video of this eellike fish. What makes it so remarkable is the fact that a fish in this family has never been seen live – until now.

Video of the fish was captured during an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore the unknown and poorly known areas deep waters of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Seen while exploring a ridge feature at a depth of ~2,500 meters, the fish measured about 10 centimeters long. It is in the same order (Ophidiiformes) as cusk eels, but belongs to a distinct family (Aphyonidae). According to the experts, this is the first time that a fish in the family Aphyonidae has ever been seen alive!

With its transparent, gelatinous skin, which lacked scales, and its highly reduced eyes that lacked pigment, the fish was truly a remarkable – and ghostly – find. In fact, some viewers noted it was basically the “fish version of Casper the octopus,” in reference to an octopus seen during a February expedition on the Okeanos Explorer off of Hawaii that was likely a new species (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos....

One thing is certain – this was indeed an exciting find that highlights, once again, how much we still have to learn about our vast, and unexplored, ocean.

Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas.

Learn more about the expedition: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos...

[Video source: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos...]