The telescopefish Gigantura indica

The telescope fish, Gigantura indica (Brauer, 1901), has been found using deepsea 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 MBARIs 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 downwelling ambient light. They are highly specialized for capturing large prey and sometimes consume other deepsea 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 ribbonlike 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