Ghost Fish
Ghost shark (credit: NOAA Okeanos)
Remotely operated vehicles (ROV's) are excellent tools for observing natural events and make discoveries, particularly in very hostile environments. They are used to study volcanoes, in search and rescue operations, and for diving in deep ocean zones.Recently, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California observed a rare ghost shark and videoed its movements of the fish from a deep-diving robot. Their discovery is published in Marine Biodiversity Records by the marine investigators.
Ghost sharks, also known as a chimaera from the ancient Greek myth of a combined beast with a goat’s head, a lion's head, and a serpent’s tail. These are ancient bony fish that evolved away from other sharks more than 400 million years ago. They occupy extreme ocean depths of nearly 9000 feet in complete marine darkness and are rarely seen alive, much less filmed.
According to MBARI: "a pointy-nosed blue chimaera, first identified in 2002, had only been known from deep waters around Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. The fish has recently been found around the Hawaiian Islands and off the coast of Central California, the first time one has been seen anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere."
The creature appears highly primitive covered in scaly, cartilage, body-plates. It has ghostly, ice-blue eyes. These are true living fossils that still exist in isolated ocean environments and were only once known from fossilized specimens. WHB