As of: February 20, 2024, 11:51 a.m
By: Martina Lippl
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On a deep-sea expedition, researchers make an elusive discovery.
An underwater camera observes a fish with ultra-black skin.
Moss Landing - In the deep sea there are temperatures just above freezing and complete darkness, as well as enormous water pressure.
In one of the harshest environments on earth, 781 meters below sea level, scientists discover a very special fish: a deep-sea anglerfish, also known as the dreaming frog or dreamer for short.
Camouflaged in the darkness of the deep sea: Research team films rare fish 781 meters below the sea surface
US researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) filmed with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in Monterey Canyon off the coast of California and actually collected tiny spiny organisms (called feodari).
Then, on September 29, a dreaming deep-sea anglerfish appeared in front of her camera for the first time.
According to their own statements, the MBARI team took advantage of this first opportunity to film one of these extremely rare deep-sea devils in 4K.
Fascinating: Rare deep-sea fish with a camouflage cap spotted for the first time off the coast of California.
© MBARI
“Dreamers are stealthy predators that lurk in secret for their prey,” explains the diving expedition’s lead scientist Bruce Robison, according to a press release.
They are rarely seen.
Instead of actively hunting for food, they let the prey come to them.
The rarely seen dreaming anglerfish (of the genus Oneidrodes) with its sharp teeth pulled out its glowing bait and “fished” for food.
As the ROV approached, the fish hid the bait and disappeared into the darkness of the sea.
Deep sea anglerfish hides - dark skin works like an invisibility cloak
“Its ultra-black appearance helps Oneirodes hide from unsuspecting prey.
The dark coloration absorbs the light emitted by the fish's glowing lure, so the prey cannot see the large mouth waiting just behind it," the researchers said.
The skin therefore functions like an invisibility cloak.
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Deep-sea frogfish (Oneirodes) is one of the blackest fish in the ocean
Many fish have developed a dark color to camouflage themselves in the “midnight zone of the ocean”.
However, the deep-sea dreamer is the “blackest fish in the ocean”.
This “cloak of invisibility” also remains hidden from other predators, the marine experts emphasize in a post on Instagram.
They also share a video on their account.
The images show the dark silhouette of the deep-sea anglerfish, which is similar to a “frog”.
According to the research team, the name “Dreaming Frog” goes back to the first discoveries of these specimens at the end of the 19th century.
Because the unusual appearance of the fish seemed too fantastic to scientists to be real and seemed like something out of a dream.
According to its own information, the marine research institute MBARI has completed 7,300 dives and recorded 28,400 hours of video material in 36 years of deep-sea research with remote-controlled vehicles, “but has only seen the dreamer anglerfish nine times,” most recently in 2016.
A diving robot has discovered a “golden egg” in the Pacific.
There are initially only theories about the mysterious object in the deep sea.
Editor's note: This text has already appeared in the past. Many readers were particularly interested in it. That's why we're offering it again.
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