Bruce Mundy, fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), calls seeing a living ghost fish a “bucket list” item. Mundy can check that wish off the list now, as a living ghost fish has been found in the Marianas Trench. The creature comes from the family Aphyonidae, which are so rare that their very existence has thus far been confirmed only by dead samples found in the ocean. A living specimen has never been found.
Video of the fish was taken during an expedition on the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer. The mission was to explore the deep waters of the Marianas Trench. It was found at a depth of about 8,200 feet.
NOAA reports that the fish was about 10 centimeters long and has transparent, gelatinous skin. It has “highly reduced eyes” that have no pigment, adding to its ghostly appearance.
The Marianas Trench is located near the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Due to its depth it is largely unexplored, but is known to be full of wildlife.
Mundy noted that there is much to still be discovered about the ghost fish. Do they dwell in the water column, or near the ocean floor? The video suggests the latter, but without further study little is known for certain.
Shirley Pomponi, biology science team lead, compared the fish to Falkor, the dragon from the 1984 movie, The Neverending Story.