During a recent expedition aboard our research vessel Western Flyer, MBARI’s science team encountered a beautifully bronze deep-sea dragon. Meet the highfin dragonfish, Bathophilus flemingi.
MBARI researchers have observed a few different dragonfishes in the depths of Monterey Bay, but this one is the rarest we’ve encountered. We’ve only seen this particular species four times in more than three decades of deep-sea research and more than 27,600 hours of video! We spotted this individual just outside of Monterey Bay at about 300 meters (980 feet).
Bathophilus flemingi can be up to 16.5 centimeters (6.5 inches) long. Its fins have long, thin rays. Scientists suspect those wing-like filaments may sense vibrations in the water, alerting the fish when predators or prey are approaching. They likely provide stability and keep the fish from sinking while it lies in wait for food. These dragons don’t have scales—they have smooth, dark skin. Research by MBARI and our collaborators has revealed the pigments in the skin of some deep-sea dragonfishes are some of the blackest blacks found in nature, all the better to camouflage in the ocean’s midnight zone. Learn more on our Creature feature.
Ghost pipefishes are close relatives of pipefish and seahorses, and today are represented by six different species found in shallow tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. But while this lineage is estimated to have originated around 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, their fossil record is very sparse – only three fossil representatives are currently known from the entire Cenozoic.
Up to about 9cm long (3.5"), it was already very similar in appearance to modern ghost pipefishes, with a long tubular snout, star-shaped bony plates in its skin, two dorsal fins, and fairly large pelvic fins that formed an egg-brooding pouch in females. It probably had the same sort of lifestyle as its modern relatives, floating pointing downwards and camouflaging itself among seagrasses, algae, and corals.
One specimen preserves a small amount of color patterning, showing hints of dark banding on the pelvic and tail fins. But since modern ghost pipefish can change their coloration to better mimic their surroundings, it’s unclear whether these markings were common to all Calamostoma or were just part of this particular individual’s camouflage.
Mounted reconstruction on display at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park, Colorado
Reconstruction by Charles Bonner
When: Cretaceous (~ 89 - 83 million years ago)
Where: North America
What:Saurodon is one of the large fish which swam though the Cretaceous Seaway, the marine waters that covered much of North America during the late Mesozoic. This particular species was ‘only’ about 8.5 feet (~2.6 meters) long, with a relatively skinny body and large pointed lower jaw. These features are what gives the family Saurodontidae the nick-name 'sword eels’. The Saurodontidae fall into the later group Ichthyodectidae, a completely extinct clade that contains some of the largest fish on record. Today the living relatives of these gigantic fishes are in the clade Osteoglossomorpha and are some of the largest bony fish that swim though today’s waters.
This was not a very specious group - there are only three described species - but they have been known to science for almost two-hundred years. The first Saurodontidaewas named in 1824 by Richard Harlan (the discover of Harlan’s ground sloth) - but was misidentified as the jaw of an extinct marine reptile. This was corrected only six years later when the first Saurodon specimen was found, and it was clear that the fragmentary specimen which was previously named belonged to a large fish, not a marine reptile. The use of the long lower jaw in Saurodon and its kin is not well understood, but it has been hypothesized that perhaps these predatory fish dug prey out from the deep muds at the bottom of the seaway.
Don’t let the barbel deceive you (sorry, goatee), the forkbeard was actually named for its bifid pelvic fins situated near the ventral side of the fish’s head. Like a beard, if you will. A forkbeard. It’s not actually the only forkbeard out there though, as P. phycis shares its genus with P. blennoides: the greater forkbeard, or sweaty betty. I should have saved that one for another post.
TheRapa Nui Fairy Basslet(Pseudanthias hangapiko)is the latest new species forRapa Nui, commonly know as Easter Island, one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands.
Showing a clearly dimorphism, with males being slightly bigger and redish than females, these fishes are tiny, with around 3 to 4.5 cm in length. These fishes were collected at 80 m depth on Hanga Piko, a mesophotic coral ecosystem near the coast of Rapa Nui, hence its name, for the location where it were collected.
- A Rapa Nui Fairy Basslet aggregation on a rocky mesophotic coral ecosystem at Rapa Nui (Easter Island) at 80 m depth.
This fish is one of four new species that were documented from a pair of technical dives at a single location in Rapa Nui, as result of a international research collaboration, emphasizing the high number of undescribed species likely still unknown in these deep ecosystems. It is also, the first record of the genus in Rapa Nui, which hosts the second-highest level of endemism in both shallow and deep-water fishes.
Foto: Male (upper) and female (lower) Photos by LA Rocha.
NEW SEAHORSE SPECIES DISCOVERED IN SOUTH AFRICA! And is tiny!
This diminutive seahorse new species, who reach nearly 2 cm, it is confirmed to be the first record of a true pygmy seahorse from Africa, and the first known from the Indian Ocean. Named Sodwana Pygmy Seahorse(Hippocampus nalu), it was found triving in the reefs of Sodwana Bay.
-Sodwana Bay, where Sodwana Pygmy Seahorse it was discovered, in red
Seven new species of pygmy seahorses have been officially described and named within the first two decades of the 21st century, and this eighth species extends the range of pygmy seahorses by more than 8000 km, suggesting that more species may be waiting to be discovered.
Scientifically named asHippocampus nalu, it refers to Savannah Nalu Olivier a local diver who discovered this new species in Sodwana bay, also, she brought this tiny fish to researchers who described officially this species. In the South African languages, Xhosa and Zulu, nalu refers to the expression ‘here it is’ and therefore. researches extend its meaning in this case to the simple fact that H. nalu was there all along until its discovery. Additionally, nalu is also the Hawaiian word that refers to the waves or surf of the moana (ocean). A powerful name for a tiny fish.
Photo: Sodwana Pygmy Seahorse in situ, juvenile (10 mm ), Sodwana Bay, South Africa at 14 m depth (photograph Richard Smith / oceanrealmimages.com).
[Photo description: a dark small seahorses, using its tails to attach itself to some algae, is small and is possible to understand it as its sizes looks similar to grains of sands around]
AUSTRALIAN WERE EATING A UNNAMED FISH UNKNOWN TO SCIENCE
Anew grouper species have been discovered in an Australian fish market, after a fisherman sent photos of a rare australian grouper to researchers at Queensland Museum, a fish which actually has been serverd as food.
The plain-looking fish it has no distinctive markings, and reaches at least 70 cm in length, but after Museum researchers purchased 5 individuals, and after molecular and morphological analyses, they prove it as a new species. Named as darkmargin grouper (Epinephelus fuscomarginatus), this species lives in deep water at 200 m below sea surface, off the southern end of the Swain Reefs, northeastern Australia.
- Photo: Preserved darkmargin grouper in the Queensland Museum.
The new species will now join 91 other species in the Epinephelus genus, which can be found in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
[Photo description: an mature man holds a preserved darkmargin grouper in his hands, the second photo below shows a preserved darkmargin grouper on its side, the fish is pale and plain with no marks]
Wolf eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) preying on a sea urchin. Their powerful jaws and ossified mouths can effortlessly shred sea urchins and other hard-shelled animals like shellfish and crabs.
The Mexican Blind Cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) may look totally different to the Mexican Tetra (bottom left), but is in fact the same species. Adaptations to life in pitch dark caves such as heightened sense of smell, as well as use of the lateral line organ, have made vision and pigmentation unimportant.
The two different morphs made this species an excellent candidate for research into circadian rhythms and metabolic processes, which you can read about here.
Black and white Clown Fish are a striking colour variant of the common Clown Fish (Amphiprion ocellatus). This species is known for its protoandrous hermaphroditism, which is a type of sequential sex change. Groups that live together consist of two large fish, the breeding male and female, and several other smaller fish. If the female is predated or removed, the breeding male will transform into a female, and one of the smaller fish will rapidly grow to be the sexually mature male of the group.
Upside-Down Catfish (Synodontis sp.) are found throughout freshwater habitats in Africa. Their belly-up swimming behaviour is thought to be an adaptation to algae grazing on the underside of logs. Also known as “squeakers”, they can rub their pectoral fin spines to produce sound when they are frightened or disturbed.
