Since May 15, the scientists have been engaged in a month-long study of the ocean’s abyss stretching from northern Tasmania to central Queensland. “It looks like two rear ends on a fish, really.” Tim O’Hara told the Guardian on Wednesday. “This little fish looks amazing because the mouth is actually situated at the bottom of the animal so, when you look side-on, you can’t see any eyes, you can’t see any nose or gills or mouth,” chief scientist and expedition leader Dr. The last one of its kind was seen by scientists aboard the HMS Challenger near Papua New Guinea in 1873. The fish isn’t winning any beauty contests: It has no visible eyes, and an entirely featureless head, save for two nostrils. The roughly 15-inch-long fish, officially known as a Faceless Cusk, was rediscovered over the weekend more than 13,000 feet deep in waters south of Sydney by scientists with the Museums Victoria and the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the Guardian reported. Researchers in Australia have discovered a bizarre “faceless” deep-sea fish - last seen over 100 years ago. 'Little Mermaid' fans slam 'skinny' Flounder: ‘Look like Steve Buscemi’ The expedition is expected to last until June 16-so stay tuned for more crazy critter finds.Michelin star chef to add 'semen' to the menu at trendy restaurantįish filet created via 3D printer may be hitting market in the near futureĪ 24-eyed jellyfish was just discovered - its sting is highly dangerous This expedition is the first time the “eastern abyssal plain” off the coast of Australia has been systematically surveyed, Gramenz reports, and the results will serve as a baseline that researchers can use to monitor future potential impacts of climate change. ![]() “They aren’t all as spectacular as the faceless fish but there’s a lot of sea fleas and worms and crabs and other things that are totally new and no one has seen them ever before.”īut it's not all crazy creatures: the team is also dredging up lots of trash, including cans of paint and PVC pipe. “The experts tell me that about a third of all specimens coming on board are totally new to science,” O’Hara tells Hunt. The team is also using a camera to observe the creatures of the deep, hauling samples to the surface in small nets.Īside from the eyeless fish, the team has also spotted a strange tripod fish, a chimaera, bioluminescent sea stars and rock crabs. “It looks like two rear-ends on a fish, really.” Because of this distinctive-and disturbing-feature, researchers are calling the fish the “Faceless Cusk.”Īs Hunt reports, the month-long expedition (sponsored by Museums Victoria and the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) is exploring the marine reserves by dragging a device that looks like a metal sled on a five-mile long cable, collecting sediment from the seafloor. “This little fish looks amazing because the mouth is actually situated at the bottom of the animal so, when you look side-on, you can’t see any eyes, you can’t see any nose or gills or mouth,” Tim O’Hara, expedition leader and senior curator of marine invertebrates at Museums Victoria, tells Elle Hunt at The Guardian. Since then, the species has been occasionally found in deep water around the globe, including in the Arabian Sea and off the coasts of Borneo, Japan and Hawaii. ![]() ![]() nasus, in the Coral Sea just outside Australian waters on August 25, 1874. The HMS Challenger-the first global oceanographic expedition-collected the first T. But with a search through scientific journals, they realized their faceless monster had been seen before. At first, the researchers thought they had a new species on their hands. At these depths, the pressure is enormous and temperatures average a chilly 34 degrees Fahrenheit. So far, they’ve brought up a lot of interesting critters, but the most surprising is a faceless fish, reports Emilie Gramenz at the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.Īccording to a blog post at Australia’s Marine Biodiversity Hub, the researchers collected the creature, Typhlonus nasus, from a depth of about 13,000 feet. For the last two weeks, a crew of scientists aboard a trawler have surveyed Australia’s marine reserves, cataloging the region's unusual deep sea creatures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |