33 — First in situ observation of an aphyonid fish

Cool paper on the first observation of a live Aphyonid...from >2500m. Spooky booger. @megerringerhttps://t.co/j3Mp9D6O30 pic.twitter.com/k6z1QANzFu

— Adam P. Summers (@Fishguy_FHL) September 20, 2017

Aphyonids are brotulas. Brotulas are Bythidita, which is a type of ophidiiform fishes.

Yikes I don’t know anything about fish terminology.

As soon as I saw the title of this paper from the tweet above, I realized I had to read it — If I remember correctly, I had been watching the live stream of the Okeanos Explorer when this Spooky Booger (@Fishguy_FHL’s words, not mine — though I wish I had thought of it) was discovered. (!!!) Okeanos’ live stream is such an amazing piece of modern open-science: You can watch the windshield view of an unmanned underwater ROV as the scientists back in mission-control explain to the audience (and each other!) what we’re seeing.

In June 2016, at around 2500 meters below sea-level, Okeanos transmitted a video feed of an aphyonid — a pale deep-sea swimfriend — the first time this species was seen in its natural habitat and alive. This animal was swimming close to the ocean floor quite slowly, and the differences in body marking suggested that this was a new species from other previously-characterized aphyyonids.

Though I am a bit too far-removed from academic marine biology to really understand the implications of this discovery, it is so cool that NOAA shares these research missions with the world. I had no idea what a brotula was before watching this stream, and I probably forgot as soon as I turned off the stream. But when I read this paper, I felt the same inexplicable scientific pride that so many of us felt when Curiosity landed on Mars.