A rare “ghost fish” was discovered during a NOAA research mission, the federal agency announced on Friday.
Scientists have been investigating deepwater environments around the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands with the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer and happened upon this unusual sea creature described as having “transparent, gelatinous skin” which had never before been spotted alive.
Bruce Mundy, fishery biologist with the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement that he was stunned by the ethereal fish.
“This is just remarkable, I am sure that this is an Aphyonid and I am sure that this is the first time a fish of this family has ever been seen alive,” Mundy said. “This is really an unusual sighting.”
Video of the fish was recorded in a ridge approximately 2,500 meters deep.
The agency observed that this sighting was just another reason to believe that we still have a lot to “learn about our vast, and unexplored, ocean.”
The discovery was part of an ongoing mission to explore previously unknown areas in the depths of the Pacific Ocean around marine national monuments in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench.
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