The telescopefish Gigantura indica

The telescope fish, Gigantura indica (Brauer, 1901), has been found using deep-sea trawls worldwide in deep tropical and subtropical waters from 500 – 2000 m. However, it has rarely been recorded live in its natural habitat. This pair was observed with MBARI’s ROV Tiburon at 1214 m during an expedition to the Hawaiian Islands in 2001. These fish have unusual tubular eyes with large lenses presumably for spotting bioluminescent prey in the deep and/or detecting prey silhouetted against down-welling ambient light. They are highly specialized for capturing large prey and sometimes consume other deep-sea fishes larger than themselves. They are extremely reflective and shiny due to a lack of scales, and a body covering of silvery guanine. The name Gigantura refers to the long ribbon-like tail. This video was posted to accompany the following publication: Osteology of the telescopefishes of the genus Gigantura (Brauer, 1901), Teleostei: Aulopiformes. Peter Konstantinidis and G. David Johnson. In press. Zoologic