First-Ever Filming of a Ghost Fish in the Atlantic Ocean

Spanning from 200 to 1,000 meters beneath the waves, the twilight zone hosts a range of marine creatures that are decidedly strange, among them a ghost fish filmed for the first time.

Winteria telescopa

Winteria telescopa, the species is described as a “gelatinous-faced ghost fish,” distinguished by its translucent head and living at a depth of around 700 meters. Rather than lateral eyes that would offer a panoramic view of its surroundings, it features two enormous forward-facing eyes on the front of its face.

This “alternative configuration” would allow it to detect tiny levels of sunlight and bioluminescence in this part of the ocean too dark to sustain photosynthesis.

W. telescopa shows clear morphological and physiological similarities with the “revenant fish.” Like it, the latter has a translucent cranial dome and two large tubular eyes, but can live at depths between 400 and 2,500 meters.

“Such images, the first of a living specimen, significantly advance our understanding of these fishes,” exclaimed the Schmidt Ocean Institute in a press release. “Until now, we only had specimens caught accidentally.”

Elusive squids

During its dives to just under 1,300 kilometers off the northeast coast of Brazil, the remotely operated submersible Subastian also had the opportunity to observe two elusive long-finned squids (Magnapinna), whose spectacular deep-sea adaptations include slender tentacles reaching up to eight meters in length.

This 35-day expedition in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean also enabled high-resolution mapping of nearly 147 square kilometers of seabed, thanks to the autonomous submersible “The Childlike Empress.”

Among the main discoveries were two new hydrothermal fields, helping to illuminate the circulation of fluids within the Earth’s crust.

Previously, the teams from the Schmidt Institute had filmed a giant ghost jellyfish off the coast of Argentina.