Deep Sea Fish ID

[edm81363]

Hi -

I'm on the Research Vessel Thompson working on the VISIONS'11 Expedition. Our ROV (ROPOS) recently encountered a fish that I was hoping someone (Janna?) could help identify. This specimen was encountered in ~1525m near 45 55N 129 59W.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edm81363/6 ... hotostream

[BASSMAN]

Wow!

[Grateful Diver]

For those who may be interested, there's a website where you can watch a streaming live video of this mission ...

http://www.interactiveoceans.washington ... ons11/live

When there's no live action, they stream highlights from previous work.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[spatman]

very cool. both the fish pic and the video stream.

[Greg Jensen]

It looks like a giant blobsculpin, Psychrolutes phrictus.

[edm81363]

Thanks Greg -

Based on my review of the footage of the specimen, I concur with your identification. Thanks for your assistance!

-Ed

[nwscubamom]

It looks like a giant blobsculpin, Psychrolutes phrictus.

I thought he was making that name up!! (but the scientific name sounded too genuine)

Amazing sighting - really cool looking fish.

- Janna

[CaptnJack]

Wrong family but...
Any chance they not only look like but can act like puffer fish? (swelling up that is)

[Greg Jensen]

They don't inflate, but you probably don't have to when you're built like a giant booger. As Milton Love writes, "Goodness, but they are blobby. You pick them up and they kind of melt in your hand, like some great, gray M&M that had gone horribly, horribly wrong."

[Tidepool Geek]

Greetings,

That is one handsome fish!

I looked this fellow up on Fishbase and noticed that the photos taken in the fish's natural habitat look like the one shown in this thread but that photos taken of collected fish show a flabby protruberant schnoz; is that an artifact of the pressure change or something else?

Nasally yours,

Alex

[Greg Jensen]

Not the pressure change, just whether it is being supported by water or not. In the original photo you can see a couple lines marking the schnoz; presumably there's some bone there and the surrounding tissue sinks down when it's taken out of the water.