“Faceless” fish, last seen in 1873, discovered during expedition in Australia
During a deep-sea expedition off the Australian coast, a team of international scientists discovered a rather odd creature, a “faceless” fish which was last seen in 1873.
The mission called “Sampling the Abyss”, launched by Museums Victoria, also found species believed to be new to science.
Scientists from the Museums Victoria and the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) caught the creature at 13,000 feet below the surface, in a barely above freezing temperature of the water.
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At first, the scientists had no idea what is was and they sent in tissue samples and emailed images f the mystery fish to experts who work on abyssal fishes.
The fish, which scientists dubbed the “Faceless Cusk,” has not been spotted in the area for more than a century, since 1873, when one was dredged up by a British ship near Papua New Guinea.
'Faceless' fish, last seen in 1873, found off Australia https://t.co/MMIwRcFzVW pic.twitter.com/3vQCVlhKJm
— BBC Science (@BBCScienceClub) June 1, 2017
“So, it’s not a new species, but it’s still an incredibly exciting find, and we think ours is the largest one seen so far. Although very little is known about this strange fish without a face, it does have eyes – which are apparently visible well beneath the skin in smaller specimens. I doubt they’d be of much use though, so we’ve decided to call it the Faceless Cusk“, said Eel expert John Pogonoski of CSIRO.
The faceless fish went viral on social media his week — with thousands of people sharing photos of the 17-inch-long sea creature.
If he only knew how famous he'd become, imagine the look on his face! Oh…wait #faceless #abysslife #RVInvestigator https://t.co/VmtNTQH8ah pic.twitter.com/utrJZuIER9
— CSIRO (@CSIROnews) May 31, 2017
According to CSIRO, the Faceless Cusk is known from the Arabian Sea, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Hawaii. Living at depths between 13,000 to 14,000 feet, it’s a rare sight.
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