1. Flabby Whitefish
Talk about a meaty find - this unknown species of flabby whalefish was recently hauled up by scientists trawling ocean depths east of New Zealand.
More than a mile down, the team's nets found relatively few fish. What they did find were several new species and some just plain "strange looking" ones, according to New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
The rare flabby whalefish have tiny eyes and lack ribs. The 12.5-inch-long (32-centimetre-long) specimen above was caught 1.7 miles (2.3 kilometres) underwater - the deepest reaches NIWA's ever explored. Most scientific research and fishing has occurred above 0.7 mile (1.2 kilometres).
NIWA had set up eight trawl stations to capture fish at varying depths around Chatham Rise, part of a network of underwater plateaus, mountains, ridges, canyons, and abyssal plains.
"We know very little about the abundance and distribution of fishes at these depths," NIWA fisheries scientist Peter McMillan said in an email.
The team discovered that the whalefish has little company below 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometres), where a small number of other fish, including skates, slickheads, rattails, and cusk-eels, were also found during the expedition.
"The eight stations sampled a tiny area but gave us a useful snapshot of the animals occupying some of the seafloor at depths greater than 2,000 meters [1.2 miles] around New Zealand."
2. Two-Tone Slickhead
Caught at about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) down, the Norman's slickhead species had never before been found off New Zealand.
Only ten specimens of the fish-which have beaklike, curved jaws and small eyes - are known from museum collections worldwide.
During the expedition, NIWA scientists would quickly photograph any specimen brought up from the depths, to capture its fresh colour. Next, they would record, label, and freeze it.
The agency donates any rare or new-to-science fish to the Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington. There, the specimens are preserved, studied, and stored in the country's National Fish Collection.
3. Young Skate
This young Richardson's skate was one of several caught at four different trawl stations of varying depths. The species is very rarely seen, presumably because it lives so deep, according to NIWA.
Finding such elusive species is no easy task: Sending a 66-foot-wide (20-meter-wide) net to the bottom of the seafloor and bringing it back up can take three hours or more.
4. Slickhead
The unidentified fish pictured above is probably a type of slickhead, according to NIWA.
Named for their slimy-looking noggins, these soft-bodied fish are common in waters deeper than 0.62 mile (1 kilometre), according to the Australian government.
"We were surprised by the predominance of slickheads...at these depths," McMillan said. Preliminary identification suggests five species were caught during the expedition, he said.
Little is known about slickheads, though their diet is thought to consist of shrimp, jellyfish, free-swimming sea squirts called salps, and comb jellies.
5. Nearly Eyeless Eel
This unidentified species of cusk-eel was caught about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) underwater. Generally shorter than other eels, cusk-eels are mostly nocturnal, deep-dwelling fish.
Like the cusk-eel, many deep-sea species have evolved smaller eyes in the lightless depths, since McMillan said. And to withstand the high water pressures, many fish have evolved lightweight skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone.
6. Curious Rattail
Never before documented in New Zealand waters, this large white rattail of the genus Coryphaenoides was caught at about 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometres) deep.
Rattails are often "very curious," which may help them find food in the dark depths, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
The aquarium recommends against eating rattails - sold as "grenadier" - since the fish grow slowly and may not reproduce until 30 years of age or older.
Top image: Slickhead Alepocephalus (top) (Credit: Peter Marriott), and Slickhead Leptochilichthys (bottom) (Credit: Peter McMillan).
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