Transparent Headed Fish

The barreleye fish may look like some kind of fantasy creation, but it is very real and living in deep water off the coast of California and through the North Pacific region. Little about this species has been recorded since it was first discovered 70 years ago. Recently however, scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute were able to study these fish alive in their deep water habitat for the first time. Using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), they filmed barrelfish at depths between 2,000 and 2,600 feet.

With a head like a fighter-plane cockpit, a Pacific barreleye fish shows off its highly sensitive, barrel-like eyes--topped by green, orblike lenses--in a picture released today but taken in 2004.The fish, discovered alive in the deep water off California's central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is the first specimen of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact.

The 6-inch barreleye had been known since 1939--but only from mangled specimens dragged to the surface by nets.