In a rare discovery, a team of deep-sea scientists has found a transparent type of fish in the Alaskan waters.
A fish biologist and her team spotted the transparent fish during a routine survey in the ocean. Notably, the fish has unique features with spots on its body but is mostly transparent therefore making it harder for predators to target it.
Sarah Friedman, who works as a fish biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, shared her finding on social media.
Friedman captioned her picture on June 1, writing: "Been hoping to see one of these in person for a long time! Blotched snailfish (Crystallichthys cyclospilus)."
Check out the tweet below:
The fish biologist spoke to Mashable about the team's discovery and said they conduct a routine survey every year in the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska.
"We found four or five so far, in [a] couple of weeks we've been out," Friedman told the outlet. However, that doesn’t mean transparent fish are common.
"They’re found around 100 to 200 meters down. So I would say your general everyday person is never going to encounter one of these fish," Friedman clarified.
Their transparent, reddish bodies are remarkable, and they serve a critical purpose. It's an adaptation deep sea creatures like the blotched snailfish use to disguise themselves, based on the wavelengths of light that pass through water.
Red light has the shortest wavelength, which indicates that it never goes into the deep dark waters and illuminates these fish. This makes deep-sea animals largely imperceptible to predators.
Friedman added that Snailfish have another cool feature, saying that they have suction cups at the bottom of their body. This allows them to cling to rocks and hold tight in powerful currents. The snailfish is one of the only fish species that have this special structure.
Friedman has also shared other interesting species she came across during the expedition, including the angler fish. This fish has a rod on its forehead, which has millions of light-producing bacteria, that flashes light. They do this to attract prey out of the deep, dark depths of the ocean.
