Despite the uninterrupted work of scientists, humans have managed to explore only a small percentage of the world’s oceans. There are territories that we have not yet studied, but also many creatures that we have not yet discovered. The underwater world remains a great mystery.
A team of Australian scientists recently discovered, while studying an unexplored area, a “faceless fish” that was seen only once, 100 years ago! The mysterious species was discovered on the coast of Papua New Guinea in 1873.
The fish was found during an expedition near the eastern Australian sea border at a depth of 2.5 miles. The sea creature does not seem to have a face because of its anatomy: it has no eyes and its mouth is located under the body. He also has two spots on his head that could be his nostrils. These two spots can make it look like the fish has eyes, but it doesn’t.
Fish that live in the depths of the ocean usually do not have eyes because they live in constant darkness, so they do not need them. The discovery of this fish can help researchers better understand the underwater survival as well as the dark parts of the ocean.
The team began their exploration journey in May and they already have a lot of specimens. They also found blind sea spiders, deep screams, coffin fish, but also red rock crabs. Tim O’Hara told France-Presse that about a third of the species found are new discoveries. This expedition will certainly be beneficial for the study of ocean life.
Here is a clip about this fish, look at how it looks up close: